Syllabus revamp: Focus on tech, use of e-books

More than 800 school teachers from across the state, prominent educationalists, academicians and other stakeholders participated in more than 50 seminars organised at the Anna University on Friday.

Separate venues were allocated for different subjects. Apart from subjects like Maths, English, Physics, Chemistry, Accountancy, Biology and Social sciences, sessions were also conducted in the Evaluation framework, teacher education and capacity, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology). This massive initiative was organised by the state government to enable and motivate teachers for writing new textbooks.

M Anandakrishnan, Chairman of Tamil Nadu Curriculum Framework Committee, who was present there, monitored the proceedings. 

He was joined by other members of the Committee, including R Ramanujan from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

“When it comes to redesigning maths curriculum, today we started with the vision statement and went on to discuss the aims and challenges. We plan to include the history of Mathematics in order to make the subject more enjoyable, “ he explained.

There is often a fear associated with certain subjects and the committee intends to change that. Anandakrishnan added that some teachers raised a concern that usually students consult guidebooks after seeing the problems in the textbook. “The challenge will be to create a curriculum which will enable students to think,” he said. 

At one of the seminars on Evaluation for Improvement in International Initiation on Students Assessment, Dr Jahitha Begum, Professor of Cognitive Science and Competitive Competence, spoke on the need for regular student assessment. 

She said, “Qualities like self-awareness, social awareness, confidence and being active contributor to the society must be inculcated among students.” She also asked the teachers present to collect data and create a portfolio of the students in order to assess their performance.

At the ICT seminar, the panellists spoke about the need to integrate technology and school education - the use of e-books. When a teacher pointed out that students in rural areas might not have access to e-mail books at home, Dr SN Prasad, former principal and professor of NCERT, said the system must evolve. However, he agreed that text books and e-books must coexist. Similar seminars would be organised on Saturday at Anna University, IIT Madras and Anna Centenary Library.