New Delhi, June 29: Yashpal, said Kolkata in his recommendations regarding the National Curriculum Framework 2006 he had suggested the abolition of “traumatic board exams”, but not to do away with the state boards. “It is possible to have different boards in the country and I did not recommend any such initiative,” he said, adding that the state boards can exist even when the examinations are made optional for the students.“If students are to continue with the same school in Class XI & XII what is the point of taking the board exams,” said Yashpal, insisting that the schools can go ahead with the assessment process which they have been following till Class IX.
Saffron Party BJP puts up their reasons against the neo policies on education enunciated by Kapil Sibal who gave vivid description of his ideas to bring the education under one organsation or regulatory board.
BJP leader and former HRD minister Murali Manohar Joshi has varied view on the subject and said that “We seek the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop his minister from spoiling the education sector,” He said that the steps announced as part of the 100-day programme of the Ministry to restructure the sector was of great concern.“The country has a federal structure.The primary and secondary requirements in various states are different. We cannot allow doing away with all the boards and establish a single board,” he said.Joshi said he had consulted the Education Ministers of various NDA-ruled states who denied of any information regarding the new announcements and said they registered their strong opposition to the radical initiatives.
Criticism came from Uttar Pradesh disagreeing with Kapil Sibal, marching ahead announcing its own set of reforms to ease the trauma of the students. Left-ruled states West Bengal and Kerala had spell out their strong opposition to the education neo pattern and called the entire gamit a conspiracy to privatise education.
Yash pal committee report that Curriculum development centrally is not relevant to the local needs of different parts of the country. There is need for increasing participation of teachers in the process of curriculum development. Majority of teachers perceive the content of the textbook as a rigid boundary or a definer of their work in the classroom. Boredom is the inevitable outcome when tersely written textbook is taught in a rigid and mechanical manner.
Competition based social ethos has entrenched in our social ethos, particularly in urban areas is now fully entrenched in the competitive spirit which is fast becoming our way of life. Rising aspiration of people in all sections of the society and the growing realization that education is an important instrument to fulfils their aspirations have resulted in a craze for admission to English medium schools which start imparting formal education too early in the child’s life.
Absence of academic ethos for this the adequate time, staff, accommodation and its maintenance, funds, pedagogical equipment, playgrounds are essential pre-requisites for effective curriculum transaction but unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of schools do not have even the minimum essential facilities. The methods of teaching used in majority of teachers are devoid of any type of challenge for the students. Children are hardly provided ail opportunity to observe and explore natural phenomenon. The concept of library as a readily available source for learning simply does not exist in most schools. Similarly, science laboratories are not equally equipped and are not used for experimentation and discovery. While forwarding the report of the Committee, Prof. Yash Pal, the chairman of the Committee advised that wide-ranging debates on the report are necessary.
2009-06-26 06:48:23 – Kapil Sibal said the government plans to set up autonomous overarching authority for higher education and research based on the recommendations of Yashpal committee and the National Knowledge Commission which provides.A curriculum proves heavy for children when (a) it is too lengthy to be completed in time by an average teacher under normal conditions; (b) there is mismatch between the difficulty level of the concepts of course content with the mental level of the pupils; (c) the language used in the textbooks is incomprehensible and the style of presentation is verbose and rhetorical rather than simple and straight forward; (d) the basic assumptions underlying curriculum development are not fulfilled.
It has been observed during the last few years that admission age to nursery classes has been progressively lowered down to the age of 2 1/2 years at some places. It appears that the perception has taken a deep root that if a child has to succeed in life, he or she must start education early in life. The major, well understood defect of the examination system is that it focuses on children’s ability to reproduce information to the exclusion of the ability to apply concepts and information on unfamiliar, new problems or simply to think. Both the teachers and the parents constantly reinforce the fear of examination and the need to prepare for it by memorizing a whole lot of information from the textbook and guide books. This sort of perception about the examination makes things difficult for children. The syllabi and textbooks if not prepared properly lead to the problem of curriculum load. It has been observed that most of the textbooks have high density of concepts and the style of writing is very terse. The language used in the books in some cases is beyond the comprehension of many students.
The Committee concluded that the problem of curriculum load was not an urban phenomenon. In rural areas, where the students have not to carry heavy bags, the problem of non-comprehension makes things extremely difficult for majority of children The feeling of academic burden arising out of non-comprehension of subject matter included in the syllabus is indeed a serious problem as it is a major hurdle in the achievement of the target of universalisation of elementary education. After discussing the indicators or manifestations of the problem of curriculum load, the committee identified the following as the roots of the problem.
The committee has questioned the assumption underlying most curriculum renewal exercises that some sort of knowledge explosion has taken place, therefore, there is a valid reason to add more and more to the existing syllabi. By equating information with knowledge, more things are added to the syllabus making it heavier for children.
To simplify the education system for teens education a single school board at the all-India level and make 10th board examination optional and in order to reduce the stress on students, the present system of giving marks would be replaced by awarding grades and CBSE will be the first Board to do so.
Unquote but for students willing to go for professional course will either sit in course of the combined univeristy exams or to get admission with narrow margins of percentage marks may bring heaps of disorder for university and professional institute which will work on diverse route thus again falling in trap of discomfort.
Secondly no mention of semster system in school,Universities and online examination for admission to various schools,professioal institution and university needs to be revamped.
Unveiling his 100-day plan yesterday, the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said, in a landmark decision the government is launching a new scheme on interest subsidy on educational loans taken for professional courses by economically weaker students. Uniform examination for all students on the pattern of combined law admission test is also on the anvil.
Mr. Sibal said the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research will subsume several other regulatory bodies like University Grants Commission, All India Council of Technical Education And Medical Council of India. A law will be enacted to prevent, prohibit and punish institutions resorting to educational mal-practices. He said that the assessment and accreditation in higher education through an independent regulatory authority will be made mandatory. He said that a bill will also be brought to set up educational tribunals to settle disputes between teachers, staff and management in higher education.
Mr. Sibal said, the government would review the functioning of these deemed universities in the wake allegations of irregularities. Mr. Sibal said that the government will recast the National Literacy Mission with focus on female literacy. As part of other policy initiatives, government will formulate a brain gain scheme to attract talent from abroad to the existing and new institutions. A new policy on distant education, introduction of academic reforms is some other priorities. Talking on public-private partnership on school education, Mr Sibal said there is ample opportunity for private players in the field, for example management of not well run schools like municipal schools. The Minister asserted that all steps should be taken to enact the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.
–Agencies–