The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Varsities will focus on spoken English, says Ponmudi

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Saturday, Nov 11, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Varsities will focus on spoken English, says Ponmudi

Special Correspondent

Language teaching to stress communication skills

THRUST ON ENGLISH: Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudi at a meeting of the Vice-Chancellors of all State universities, organised by the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education, in Chennai on Friday. — Photo: M. Vedhan

CHENNAI : Language teaching in the State's universities is set to change with the focus shifting to improving communication skills of students rather than learning by rote.

"The emphasis will henceforth be on encouraging students to learn more of spoken English rather than merely teaching Tamil and English as languages. This will make students more employable,'' State Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi told reporters after chairing a special meeting of Vice-Chancellors of all universities. The meeting was organised by the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education in Chennai on Friday. The feasibility of rationalising the university syllabus system--with 60 per cent of all core and optional subjects being taught under a common syllabus and the varsities getting to individually decide on the rest--was also being examined.

The two-shift system, currently being tested out in 10 colleges, evoked a good response and would be extended to more colleges next year. "The colleges will offer two shifts, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m and from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Apart from allowing students to seek part-time employment outside of college hours, this also optimises the use of infrastructure and resources,'' Mr. Ponmudi said.

From next year, only open universities would be allowed to enrol adult learners without previous educational qualifications into degree programmes. The possibility of offering all B.Ed/M.Ed programmes on an annual basis--as against the semester system being practised by some universities--was also being examined.

Appointment letters would be issued to new teacher recruits this year only after they underwent a training programme offered by TANSCHE. The draft bill for bringing in a common university act would be tabled in the next budget session of the Assembly. The Government would act on the recommendations of the Anandakrishnan committee set up to go into the legalities of abolishing the common entrance test for professional undergraduate admissions and protect student interests, the Minister added.

The VCs meet also deliberated on issues such as improving the quality of research in M.Phil and Ph.D courses, encouraging teaching of basic sciences, introducing double-major courses and setting textbooks in Tamil. Higher Education Secretary, K. Ganesan, was also present.

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