The Hindu : Front Page : Class X syllabus will be made easy next academic year, says Education Minister

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Class X syllabus will be made easy next academic year, says Education Minister

Shastry V. Mallady

— PHOTO: S. JAMES

REVIEW MEETING: School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu (extreme right) with department officials in Madurai on Sunday.

MADURAI: The syllabus of Class X of the State Board will undergo changes from 2008-09 academic year after a thorough review with a view to lessening the burden on students, Minister for School Education Thangam Thennarasu said here on Sunday.

Speaking to presspersons after a review meeting, he said the issue of reducing the X class syllabus, particularly of science, was discussed with officials and teachers and a final decision in this regard would be taken after a complete review.

Single subject failures

“When we analysed the examination results, we found that more students were failing in science and in fact, the ‘single subject failures’ were more in science. Requests for syllabus revision came for science and mathematics,” he said. The Minister reviewed the performance of School Education Department in six districts in the Madurai region— Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram—along with senior officials from Department of School Education.

Mr. Thennarasu said that the review meeting also took note of the requirements of Government schools.

Oral instructions were given to schools that they could appoint casual workers in the category of watchman, sweeper and scavenger for which funds from the Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA) could be used after getting clearance from the respective District Educational Officers, the Minister said.

“Schools are now getting computers, other equipment and toilets. So, they need to have workers for proper maintenance,” he said.

Textbooks distribution

Responding to a question on distribution of textbooks to schools, the Minister said that he held a discussion with officials of Tamil Nadu Text Book Corporation to ensure that textbooks reached all districts well before the commencement of the academic year.

When asked about the request of Government school headmasters for increasing the spending limit of funds at their disposal, the Minister said, “HMs can always come to us with their proposals and that should not be a problem. But, with regard to delegation of powers to headmasters, that issue is yet to be looked into.”

Aspects discussed

The review meeting also looked into aspects such as pass percentage, Activity Based Learning (ABL), implementation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), teachers’ vacancies, funds received from various agencies and implementation of Government programmes.

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