Samacheer Kalvi / Uniform Syllabi for School Children

Samacheer Kalvi / Uniform Syllabi for School Children

Tamil Nadu is an excellent microcosm of India.

At the national level, anything that the BJP/Congress does will promptly be found fault with / undone / criticized by Congress/BJP when the power equations change.

At the state level, the attitude remains the same, but the players are DMK & AIADMK instead of BJP & Congress.

An excellent example is that of "Samacheer Kalvi" or introducing a system of Uniform Syllabus for all school children.

In the dying months of their rule, the DMK had introduced / announced implementation of "Samacheer Kalvi", which essentially meant a system of Uniform Syllabus for all schools in Tamil Nadu.

Looks simple, sounds logical - at a superficial level.

The moment AIADMK came to power, they started finding fault with the proposal. And dropped it forthwith. The hot potatoes were promptly thrown around and finally landed up in the courts.

Official reason quoted by the AIADMK - "The standards of the proposed syllabi are simply not upto the mark".

Reasons quoted by the rumour mills - "The syllabus and new books had eulogised the DMK chief Karunanidhi".

My guess about the truth - Probably both of the above.

Though the matter is sub judice, I guess that it is OK to discuss the merits and demerits.

Here goes:

• Any system of introducing "Uniform Syllabus" would imply arriving at an "Average Standard" of syllabus from the various existing syllabi.
• This could and actually would create two sets of problems:
• Those coming from an "Easier Standard Syllabus" (typically from the poorer sections of society, often from families where both parents are "not-exactly-well-educated") would find the new syllabus to be very tough. The'll find it quite difficult to get used to it and may end up even contemplating the option of "dropping out", as they are not able to cope with the high standards.
• Those coming from a "Tougher Standard Syllabus" (typically from the richer sections of society, often from families where both parents are "highly-educated") would find the new syllabus to be way too simple. They will find things so simple that they will be tempted to "take-it-easy". Result - When the time comes for facing All-India competitive exams like the IIT-JEE, they will be at a disadvantage vis-a-vis those from other states or from the CBSE stream.
• In addition, there is always a problem of mid-way transition problems. For instance, for students moving from Class 7 to 8 or worse still, for those moving from Class 9 to 10.

In my humble opinion, there is no need for politicians (whether from the DMK or from the AIADMK) to get into matters of determining the school syllabus in the first place.

• If at all there is an intention to standardise the syllabi, the ideal situation would be to consider the option of introducing the "New Syllabus" on a prospective basis from a future academic year for children joining school, say, from Class 1. For all others, the existing syllabus ought to have been continued till they reach college. This would be the least disruptive arrangement.
• Even then, any such major change should certainly not be implemented in such a hasty manner. At the very least, any such changes should first be announced at least a full academic year in advance and all feedback from various sources ought to be taken into consideration before finalising the implementation process.
• Equally critically, if an announcement has been made by an erstwhile government about a change, the new government ought to have simply honoured it - AT THE VERY LEAST FOR THE CURRENT ACADEMIC YEAR. If at all they wished to introduce any further changes, including reverting right back to the older system, they ought to have done so only after advance notice as mentioned in the point above.

To sum it up, both DMK and AIADMK appear to have acted in total haste in this matter.

Result:

• Chaos
• Unnecessary Litigation
• Suffering children
• Potential loss of an academic year for those in critical classes
• Potential loss of their entire academic / professional future for those in higher classes who may need to compete for college seats in the not-too-distant future with their friends from other states and CBSE.

Regards,

N

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