Equitable standard school education does not mean the imposition of the syllabus of one stream on others, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi clarified on Wednesday.
A common syllabus would be prepared, incorporating the best of all the streams, as an analysis of the syllabi of the streams showed that there was not much difference, he said in a statement.
At present, the State had four streams – State Board, Matriculation, Anglo-Indian and Oriental. Last month, the Cabinet decided to adopt the system of equitable standard school education.
The Chief Minister said that once the fresh syllabus was prepared, its copies would be circulated to representatives of all the streams for comments. This would be debated at the levels of panchayat union and district before finalisation.
At the time of preparing the syllabus, opportunities would be given to all sections of the teaching community. Eventually, only the best and experienced teachers would be selected. Decisions would be taken on the syllabus and text books in a transparent manner. As announced by the State government, besides Tamil, steps would be taken to continue with the present practice of permitting other languages as a medium of instruction.
The equitable standard school education was a new scheme of the government to provide a uniform and quality education to all children.
Mr. Karunanidhi said his clarification was issued in the context of objections raised by certain sections without knowing the facts on the proposed syllabus.