CHENNAI: Nearly after one and half decades, the state government has introduced new syllabus for technical examinations such as accountancy, shorthand and typewriting from next academic year.

The initiative to change the syllabus was started in January 2024 with an expert committee, during the first meeting, putting forward a curriculum, which was not approved due to practical reasons.

A senior official from the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) told DT Next that the panel’s second meeting, which was held recently, has approved the new syllabus.

“Accordingly, the new syllabus has been released after getting full approval from the Higher Education Department,” he said adding, “The new curriculum will be introduced from February 2025 onwards.”

He said that now students should have a minimum qualification of Class 7 to appear for pre-junior typewriting (both English and Tamil) as per the new syllabus. In the old syllabus, the students from Class 6 were the minimum qualification to appear for the exam. The official said that in addition, the pre-junior typewriting students would not have a second paper, which has business statements.

The DoTE official said that 200 words are additionally included in the senior grade typewriting exam Paper I, which tests the speed of the candidates. Concerning the shorthand, Pitman shorthand will also be introduced for lower-grade candidates, which would help them if they appear for higher grades. The present syllabus does not have Pitman rule and is not applicable for the students, who appear for lower-grade exams.

L Senthil, president, Tamil Nadu Typewriting and Computer Institute Association said that the DoTE also ensured to include office notes and court proceedings in typewriting exams, which will be useful for the students in the present scenario. He said now the students for both typewriting and shorthand besides accountancy should have to appear for the exam only through approved technical institutes.

K Ramesh Kumar, a senior accountant said that the inclusion of ‘company amalgamations, valuation of shares, absorption, reconstruction of companies and liquidation of companies’ in the accountancy will be useful for the students.

He also said that around 1.5 lakh candidates appear for the typewriting exams (both Tamil and English) every year. For shorthand exams, 10,000 candidates appear besides students writing accountancy will be around 9,000. The exams for these subjects will be conducted twice a year (February and August).