Educators seek change in pre-school syllabus

Following instructions from the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Tamil Nadu was the first state in the country to launch the pre-school syllabus, which must be adopted by all schools including even the private ones. The syllabus features comprehensive information of learning, which will be appropriate for the age and the stage of development of children studying in LKG and UKG.

The SPCSS general secretary P B Prince Gajendra Babu told DT Next that SCERT has to reduce the school hours, which is too long for kids to stay at school. “The timing may be useful for the office-goer parents. They leave their children at the school till 4pm in the evening,” he added.

Pointing out that till now, the government has not introduced kindergarten in State-owned schools, Prince said that at first, they should introduce LKG and UKG in government schools and then come out with the syllabus.

Stating that the new syllabus contains lots of practical activities, such as identifying vegetables and playing with toys, the SPCSS representative wondered how many kids will come with vegetables. “It is not clear whether the government would bare the expenses,” he added. He also stressed upon teacher training before implementing the new syllabus.

K Ranganathan, representative of a parent-teacher association in the city, said that the syllabus seems to be hard for the little ones. “I feel theme activity in the syllabus looks more suitable for such kids,” he added.

However, a senior SCERT official said that the syllabus and pedagogy for pre-school education was based on holistic perspective. The authorities have taken into account the various domains and developments, the characteristics of children and their learning needs.