Ganesh Karnik, Bharatiya Janata Party MLC, has taken serious exception to a recent circular issued by the Department of Pre University Education to withdraw the blow-up syllabus it had announced for the second year Pre-University Course.
The decision to withdraw blow-up course at a time when the examinations were nearing was against the interests of students. The move would create unnecessary pressure on teachers as well as students, he said at a press conference here on Sunday.
As there was apprehension among teachers and students over the newly adopted National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum, the department had announced blow-up syllabus for 2013-14. The students had to study 70 per cent of the prescribed syllabi as the question papers for the examination had been framed based on this syllabi. The department had announced that this year’s second PUC examinations would be conducted on the basis of blow-up syllabus, he said.
The department had recently passed a circular to withdraw the blow-up syllabus. The examinations on the new curriculum should be conducted after providing proper training for teachers serving in government, aided and unaided PU colleges. The decision to withdraw the blow-up syllabus would have negative impact on the performance of students, he said.
Mr. Karnik also opposed the Karnataka Education (Amendment) Bill, 2014, that had been tabled in the recent session of the State Legislature. Under the Bill, the government had decided not to provide increments for passing Kannada language examination to the employees of aided educational institutions.
However, according to the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, the State government would pay the salary and other benefits to the employees of aided educational institutions on par with those working in government schools and colleges. While the employees of government schools and colleges were given an increment, the same benefit had been denied to the employees of private aided schools and colleges. The new Bill was discriminatory in nature. The employees serving in aided educational institutions would stage a State-wide protest against the new Bill, he said.
With the objective of ensuring safety of children in schools, the State government had issued guidelines, apart from making it mandatory to install surveillance cameras. Making it mandatory to install surveillance cameras would be a financial burden on private educational institutions, he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Karnik said that the government had agreed to take over the schools managed by administrative committees of temples that came under the purview of Muzrai Department.
