The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Confusion over BBM, BHM English textbooks

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Monday, Jun 27, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Confusion over BBM, BHM English textbooks

Staff Reporter

It is being introduced for third, fourth semester students

— Photo:

A book dealer collecting supplies of BBM English textbooks in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: Though colleges affiliated to Bangalore University opened on Monday, lecturers teaching English language to students of Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) and Hotel Management (BHM) have no idea what should be taught to them. The crux of the problem is the introduction of English in the third and fourth semesters of BBM and BHM. This batch did not have English as part of the course in their first two semesters. Now, as new English textbooks have been formulated for Arts, Commerce and Science streams, there is confusion whether the English textbooks prescribed for B.Com can also be used for BBM and BHM.

The English textbooks prescribed for B.Com were discontinued for BBM and BHM courses two years ago when a new syllabi were introduced for them. However, the new syllabi were withdrawn and the B.Com textbooks were reintroduced later.

Since the present batch of third and fourth semester students did not study English in their first year, the English lecturers are in a fix whether they should be teaching from B.Com textbooks or the ones that were formulated for BBM and BHM. The present first and second semester students are being taught from B.Com English textbooks, while the fifth and sixth semesters do not have study the subject.

To compound the problem, the fresh batch of textbooks are out, and it has been mentioned in the English books for B.Com that they are for all Commerce streams, which includes BBM and BHM.

Lacking clarity

The lack of clarity over the syllabus is not going down too well with the lecturers. V.S. Sreedhara, Head of the Department of English, Vijaya College, and Chairperson of the University's English Textbook Committee, said the confusion was leading to wastage of precious teaching hours. “The Commerce Department should have taken a decision before colleges reopened. Even last year the English textbooks arrived two months late, leaving us little time for completing the portions. Is the university only interested in testing and not teaching?” he asked.

He also took exception to the constant change in the curriculum — whether to introduce English or not in BBM, and whether to teach the same syllabus as is taught in B.Com. Officials in the university's Commerce Department expressed helplessness. M. Ramachandra Gowda, chairman of the Board of Studies for Commerce, BU, said even the department was in the dark. He said that the university officials would be informing him about the final decision soon.

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