The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : New Tamil textbooks soon to suit State’s culture

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

New Tamil textbooks soon to suit State’s culture

Shastry V. Mallady

MADURAI: Tamil textbooks at elementary level are being redesigned in the State by content modification so as to make them ‘culturally appropriate.’ The process will be completed in a month’s time and new books issued for Government/aided schools for classes I and II.

A top official of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) project told The Hindu here on Friday that the objective of textbook content change was to ensure ‘reading for pleasure’ among elementary school children.

“An intensive workshop is currently underway in Chennai to create new Tamil textbooks. The books prepared by the National Book Trust, New Delhi, sometimes may not be culturally suitable for the State,” the official said and added that resource persons were on the job at present.

Besides, more importance is being accorded to make classroom learning an interesting experience via story-telling and craft-making under the mode of Activity Based Learning (ABL) which, according to the official, is being enriched.

In order to familiarise English among primary school students in the State, the Department of Elementary Education will soon supply audio CDs which will have the ABL cards ‘spoken in English.’

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