Centre’s no to common syllabus draws flak

Union Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha said in Lok Sabha that the uniform syllabus across the country will not give information of the local culture and language. 

“Multiplicity of curricula and educational resources are desirable as the uniform syllabus does not take into account the local contexts, culture and language,” he said. However, as Tamil Nadu is keen to get uniform syllabus in all states, the latest statement from the Centre has disappointed academicians and stakeholders here.

 “If a uniform syllabus is followed all over the country, it will give students the required confidence to face competitive examinations like JEE and NEET,” said Malathy Balakrishnan, director, Sri Sankara, Matriculation Higher Secondary School, CBSE, Pammal. 

Stating that for some political reasons, the Centre did not bring the common syllabus, she said if a common syllabus is not implemented, demand for scrapping NEET 

will further grow in Tamil Nadu. 

Pointing out that TN has already upgraded the syllabus on par with CBSE, Malathy, however, said if the Union government feels that common syllabus would ignore local culture, it is better to introduce 80% general curriculum and rest could be of the state’s choice. 

Dr Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE), said at least Maths and Science subjects should be made common in the country since it would help to face several competitive exams, which is given by all students. Ravindranath pointed out that the Centre can ignore subjects like History and Geography since it contains more local culture and tradition. 

“Therefore, it is essential to put Maths and Science as common subjects, which have uniform information everywhere”, he added. 

According to P K Ilamaran, president of Tamil Nadu Teachers Association, NEET and other competitive information should be incorporated in the school curriculum if Centre does not bring common syllabus all over India. 

He said the Centre should allow the State to design its own curriculum without the guidelines of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) so that local government’s choice to make all the subjects on par with national syllabus.