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Revamped state board syllabus to arm students for NEET
Education board uses new subjects, shorter chapters with more information and multi-media forms of communication to help students learn more and crack competitive exams with ease
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
With emphasis on Science subjects, the draft of the new state board syllabus released recently focuses on preparing students for competitive exams, claim academicians. Even though new lessons have been added to existing subjects, the length of the chapters has been trimmed so that students do not find them tiring. The state revised the syllabus for Classes 1, 6, 9 and 11 to make it at par with the CBSE curriculum. School education minister KA Sengottaiyan had said that the new curriculum would encourage more students to enrol in government schools from the next academic year.
Experts in the academic field also feel that the content in the revised syllabus has been made more compact and precise.
“The school education department recently posted the new text books online. The books, especially at the primary level, are made more colourful. Every lesson is accompanied by a lot of pictures and illustrations. The activities at the end of every lesson also make it more interesting for the students to go through the chapters,” said Malathy Balakrishnan, the director of academics at Sri Sankara Public School, CBSE, in Pammal.
She added that the activities are accompanied by bar codes which will provide the students access to more study material through mobile applications. “The activities especially in Maths and Science will enable students to understand the concepts better,” Balakrishnan said.
She said that the state’s decision to make Computer Science compulsory from Classes 6 to 10 would better equip students to deal with technology related subjects later. Balakrishnan also lauded the decision to turn information technology into a separate unit in science as it would help in generating greater interest among students. “The revised syllabus includes new subjects like Robotics and Nano science which the students may find interesting as it will be an entirely new concept for them,” she said.
Speaking about how the new syllabus measures up to the CBSE curriculum, S Venkatesan, a student counsellor for competitive exams, said, “The revised state board syllabus is better than the one prepared by national level experts for CBSE.”
After analysing the draft, Venkatesan said that most of the changes were made in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. “Major revisions were made in science subjects keeping in mind that they act as the foundation for competitive exams,” he said.
In Physics, for example, chapters on laws of motion, gravitation and properties of matter have been added. These are portions on which questions are based in NEET.
Similarly, in Chemistry and Biology, new chapters have been included while deducting a few sections of the older ones. “In Chemistry thermodynamics and molecular structure have been included and in Biology, a detailed study on animals and plants has been added”, Venkatesan said, adding that it would benefit students during both their board and competitive exams.
Teachers too have welcomed the new curriculum. “Changes made in the text books will help the students grasp the chapters better. The syllabus of several subjects, especially Tamil, has been made simpler so that students need minimal help in understanding the content,” said PK Illamaran, the state president of Tamil Nadu Teachers Association.
He said that in Science, the experiments were illustrated in such a way that it was easier for the students to comprehend. “In History, the syllabus has been made more compact. New information and chapters — such as formation of new districts and the traditions followed there — have been added while retaining the older content. But, this will not be a burden for the students as the chapters have been cut short. So the students will not need to put extra effort to study them,” Illamaran said.
He also said that the inclusion of Physical Education in the syllabus, which would help students stay healthy and generate interest in physical activities. Illamaran, however, added that it was disappointing that the government could not add a chapter on student behaviour which would have helped improve discipline in classes.
For S Kayalvizhi, a teacher, priority to vocational training in several subjects including agriculture, medicine, textile technology and arts such as drawing, music, will encourage students to be aware of career options that go beyond the popular avenues. The training would also help in training students for jobs that they may take up in future, she said.
Speaking about other subjects, Kayalvizhi said that the decision to make students take up Human Anatomy and Physiology in Class 11 instead of 12 “will make the students learn early”.
P Karthikeyan, a member of parent-teacher association at a higher secondary school in Pallikarani, said that the change would assist the students compete with their CBSE counterparts. “The syllabus is not hard. It has been prepared carefully. New topics, especially in Science and Maths, will help the students in their higher education”, he said. According to him, the additional lessons — especially in the class eleven — would give the students a headway into what to expect during college.
But, amid the mostly positive feedback from academicians, the students are unsure of how they are going to cope with the revised syllabus. Most of the students that DT Next spoke to had little idea about the new curriculum and when it would be implemented.
“Until recently, we had absolutely no clue that the syllabus will be changed from the next academic year. Our teachers told us about it just now,” said K Madhavan, a student of Class 10. “Only when we are given the books will we able to gauge if they have made it easier for us or not,” he said.
On the other hand, apart from the new curriculum, experts felt that the government should train teachers on how to impart education better. Balakrishnan said, “The government should organise workshops to train teachers. They should also improve lab facilities. Only if these factors are enhanced can the revision of syllabus serve its purpose and help the students of Tamil Nadu succeed at competitive examinations.”
WHAT’S NEW ABOUT THE REVISED CURRICULUM?
- The books, especially at the primary level, are made more colourful. Lessons are accompanied by a lot of pictures and illustrations.
- Computer Science has been made compulsory from Classes 6 to 10.
- New subjects such as Physical Education, Robotics and Nano Science have been introduced.
- In Chemistry, chapters on Concepts of Chemistry, Gases and Liquids, Environmental and Physical Chemistry have been added.
- New chapters on Laws of Motion, Work Energy and Power, Properties of Matter and Kinetic Theory have been added to Physics.
- In Biology, new chapters on Plant Environment, Human Physiology and Function of Cell have been added.
- Priority has been given to vocational training in several subjects, including agriculture, medicine, textile technology and arts such as drawing, music.
Member of parent-teacher association recounts long struggle for change
S Manivanan, Secretary, Parent-Teacher Association of a city school said that his association and others had been asking the state government to revise the syllabus for over a decade. “We have written several times to the Education department authorities but they did not respond in 10 years,” Manivanan said. He, however, added that the recommendations of his association was included in the new curriculum.
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