Kerala   

SCERT plans social interpretation of lessons

KASARAGOD: The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) is planning to introduce an innovative method of teaching in schools in the State which aims to interpret lessons in the existing textbooks in the light of various social issues connected to them.

The SCERT has already held three workshops across the State to discuss the idea with teachers and the fourth workshop is progressing in Kasaragod.

Sources in the SCERT said the emphasis would be on developing a new approach to teaching which would enlarge the perspective of teachers and students.

For example, according to the new approach, while teaching literature care will be taken to explain the social issues addressed by the literary work or connected to it. At the same time, teachers will continue to give importance to the pure literary significance of the work.

The SCERT plans to introduce the new methodology from the primary school-level to the higher secondary-level. The new approach will be extended to all subjects after proper discussion.

The SCERT is also planning to give the media a more important role in the curriculum by introducing news and views appearing in the media as part of text books and has already experimented with the concept.

According to experts, media forms a seminal part of the child’s understanding of the world in which he lives and his exposure to various forms of media is significant.

The SCERT sources noted another move to introduce more child authors in text books.

The seventh standard text book of the State syllabus already features a travelogue written by a child. Another move being contemplated by the SCERT is introducing IT-enabled education from primary classes onward.

While the emphasis would continue to be on facilitating the child to learn from the real world, the potential of the virtual world would also be utilised as per the new plan.

The SCERT experts feel that funds for introducing the necessary infrastructure in schools to extend IT-enabled education would not be a problem in the present context.

The SCERT is also discussing whether it would be feasible to divide academic years as two terms instead of three.

Many participants in the discussions organised by the SCERT noted that conducting a large number of formal examinations was reducing valuable time for teacher-student interaction.

The workshops of the SCERT are also discussing the changes to be incorporated into the new evaluating systems in schools and are trying to find ways to improve the continuous evaluation system in place in schools at present.

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