More than a month after the school education department distributed Samacheer Kalvi (equitable education) text books to matriculation schools along with government and government-aided schools, prevailing indications are that teachers in the self-financed matriculation schools have just begun to acclimatise themselves to the new system.
Relief
There are causes for relief and a little concern as well. Since the new system encourages activity-based teaching-learning process, teachers and students in matriculation schools have seemingly begun to take a liking to the system.
The initial reaction of the managements was that the Samacheer Kalvi portions are somewhat diluted when compared to the syllabi they had been following till last year. But now, a section of matriculation schools has started acknowledging the advantages built into the Samacheer Kalvi system.
Teachers are able to identify a similarity with the CBSE pattern in that there is a focus on activities and projects.
The system, according to a senior matriculation teacher with over 15 years of experience, would pave way for hitherto average students to improve their performance vis-à-vis their peers who had been enjoying advantage solely owing to their capacity to learn through rote memory.
Training
Yet, school heads agree that teachers require in-service training.
If a section of teachers is still uncomfortable with the new content, it is more about unfamiliarity with the system and pattern than the difficulty level, explained A. Ramesh, Principal, Bala Vidya Mandir.
In fact, languages have been enriched and the level of Mathematics is improved in the Samacheer Kalvi text books for standards VIII and X, he said.
Nevertheless, matriculation schools find themselves at a relative advantage since they believe that the reduced content, as they perceive, will off-set the time loss they had to suffer in obtaining Samacheer Kalvi books.
Activities
In any case, there is nothing that prevents matriculation schools from increasing the level of activities in case they feel that the contents are not adequate, according to the Inspector of Matriculation Schools V. Jeyakumar.
In-service trainings for matriculation school teachers are likely to take place during October, he said.