Tamil Nadu - Cuddalore   

“Drop uniform syllabus plan”

CUDDALORE: The Tamil Nadu Matriculation Schools’ Association and the Tamil Nadu Nursery and Primary Schools’ Association are not in favour of a uniform syllabus and have decided to urge the government to drop the proposal.

Kalai Vijayakumar, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Matriculation Schools’ Association, told The Hindu that there were six streams of education, including the CBSE, the ISC, matriculation and the State Board, and the standard of education they offered varied widely. There were no similarities in the fundamentals, so the proposed uniform syllabus would only dilute the standard of education. The advocates of the uniform syllabus reckoned it to be a leveller, but, in reality, it would have a deleterious effect on the quality of education in course of time , he said.

Apprehensive of the direction the education system was taking, many Matriculation schools were now adopting the CBSE syllabus because of its national characteristics, Mr. Vijayakumar said.

He dispelled the notion that the Matriculation schools were serving only the economically well-off, but in reality the wards of the poor, including those of autorickshaw drivers and office assistants, were enrolled in large numbers in these schools. Therefore, as a measure of course correction, the associations at their 35th State conference, scheduled for July 26 in Chennai, would put forth the demand that the uniform syllabus proposal be abandoned.

Mr. Vijayakumar said the associations would urge the government to extend the free cycle scheme to the matriculation students, too. This gesture would especially help Std. X and Plus One and Plus Two students attend special classes. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had announced in the Assembly that students of the self-financing matriculation schools would also be given free cycles, and the government had earmarked Rs. 92.87 crore, but the promise was yet to be honoured, he said.

The associations felt that the period for renewal of building licences for matriculation schools should be extended from three years to 10 years, and the Examination Department should take care of all the works related to the examinations for the failed candidates, instead of handing over the task to the schools, Mr. Vijayakumar said.

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