The State government should not defer implementation of Samacheer Kalvi, educationists and organisations in support of Equitable Standard School Education said here on Tuesday.
Addressing presspersons, they said a team of experienced teachers and professionals had evolved the syllabus for Samacheer Kalvi.
While there were certain portions that were problematic, it was a largely democratic exercise, they said, urging the government to reconsider its decision to defer implementation.
“Constituting an experts' committee to look in to aspects of quality is a good thing. But the government need not have deferred implementation,” said P.B.Prince Gajendra Babu, General Secretary, State Platform for Common School System.
He also emphasised that Equitable Standard School Education was not only about a common syllabus. Several other factors such as the quality of teachers, infrastructure and availability of neighbourhood schools would have to be considered. Ensuring that the Right To Education Act is implemented would help address some of these concerns, he added. Academician K. Raju said quality was a complex issue. “Quality cannot be reduced to new syllabi, textbooks or examinations. Quality in education is to do with enabling a learner to think creatively and independently.”
Pointing to some Matriculation school heads' tendency to refer to the common syllabus as being “below standard”, the speakers observed that the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus was approved by experts' committees which had members of Matriculation schools as well. “If they found it alright then and approved it, how is it that they suddenly find it as being of low standard now?” asked A. Marx, academician.
