Schoolteachers find inadequacies in draft syllabus

A group of teachers associated with Child Friendly Schools Initiative met in Shenoy Nagar on Sunday to discuss the draft syllabus. 

Child Rights Activist and an Assistant Professor, Loyola College, Andrew Sesuraj says that are many loopholes in the draft. “Government school teachers from Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Villupuram came together for the meeting. We found a number of inadequacies in the draft. For instance, most of the draft is in English, except in the textbook section. This syllabus is for the state board students. There are many teachers who are not very comfortable with English. To go through the entire document, analyse and then give suggestions will take time for such teachers. Ideally, the text should have been in both English and Tamil. We want an extension of the deadline.” 

The teachers in the meet say that the draft syllabus fails to factor in the reality of rural Tamil Nadu. Thamizh Asan from Kuzhandhai Neya Kootamaipu says, “There are discrepancies about how the new syllabus will fit into the present trimester pattern. There has to be some clarity on that. Also, since the state follows a bilingual policy in education, introducing English medium from Class I will be doing injustice to the policy.

Across the world, teaching through mother tongue is recommended and followed. With 75 per cent of students hailing from villages where English is not spoken, the syllabus will make even the capable students feel incompetent.”

He further adds, “We anticipate that the implementation of syllabus due to upcoming elections in the state. We plan to organise meeting across with state, where apart from the experts, parents and students are welcome to participate and decide on what is right for them.” The TNCERT website has a section for feedback and people can also email their feedback.

The site was opened to the public on November 20, with the feedback option available for ten days.