Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

‘Raw deal’ for co-scholastic subjects

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Teachers of co-scholastic subjects such as arts education, work experience and physical education have alleged neglect of the subjects at the training programmes for the State Resource Groups held in April.

According to them, the five-day programmes organised jointly by the Department of Education and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan at Thrissur (physical education), Wayanad (work experience) and Malappuram (arts education) were more of a “module preparation workshop” than a training programme.

A lecturer in physical education at the District Institute of Education and Training, who attended a training programme, said the absence of a proper guideline for the workshop clearly revealed the low priority accorded to the subjects. This also rendered the programme ineffective as the teachers had to spend the first three days preparing the module.

Though the National Curriculum Frame Work 2005 envisages co-scholastic subjects to progress towards scholastic or core curriculum subjects in due course the ground realities are rather bleak.

The appointment of teachers in co-scholastic disciplines has been frozen for over the last 20 years. Even the post of the physical education head at the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been lying vacant for sometime now, said the lecturer.

S. Venugopu, a former research officer at SCERT, is of the view that the co-scholastic subjects should be made examination-oriented.

“The subjects will gain its due relevance only if it is made as a part of the SSLC examination,” he said.

“Right now even the periods allotted for co-scholastic subjects are often appropriated by science teachers. Co-scholastic subjects are meant for all and should not to be confined to just a few students,” said Mr. Venugopu.

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