Teachers worry as delay in announcing truncated syllabus continues

Chennai

Justifying the delay, a senior official from the School Education Department pointed out that school reopening was deferred multiple times, due to which the committee that was constituted to look into academic loss was not able to decide on the portion that has to be reduced.

“When it was planned to reopen schools in October, the syllabus was reduced by 30 per cent. Then, when it was deferred to November, it was cut by 40 per cent. Further postponement has made the members decide to reduce the portions by 50 per cent,” said the official.

However, PK Ilamaran, president of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association, said though they received information about the reduction in syllabus in August itself, a final decision was yet to be taken. This, he added, was causing stress for teachers, students and parents.

The government should immediately release a detailed list of the portions that have to be covered for the exams, he said. “The expert committee should at least release the syllabus for board exam students so that they can prepare in advance,” he said.

According to S Arumainathan, president, Tamil Nadu Students Parents Welfare Association, as the pandemic situation has not come to total normal, the government should prioritise only board exam students and release the decreased curriculum for them.

In his opinion, the government should declare all-pass for students studying from Class 1 to Class 9 and hold only board exams.