The Department of Public Instruction on Thursday put out a truncated SSLC syllabus, days after the government announced that portions would be cut by 20%. While students will not be evaluated on the lessons that have been omitted, they can consider them for extended reading.
In English, many poems and prose lessons have been cut. In Social Science, political developments of the 20th century, Indian Population, Social Problems, and Energy Resources will be cut for evaluation. However, many private school managements pointed out that they have completed the entire syllabus. Sumanth Narayan, founder of Shanthinikethana School, said that they had completed the syllabus. “All teachers can do is to tell students which chapters will not be tested in the examination. We will have to revise our question banks so that students don’t get confused. We hope that the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board will publish new question banks,” he said.
On the other hand, H.K. Manjunath, president, Karnataka High School Assistant Masters Association, welcomed the revised syllabus. “Several government school teachers will be relieved as most of the omitted chapters were from second semester portions,” he said.
Some teachers expressed concern that the omissions would make it difficult for students who opt for these subjects in PU. “In social studies, for instance, if students do not learn about the population, it will be difficult for them to grasp lessons if they opt for humanities in PU. So schools should at least do a cursory reading of these lessons,” said a government school teacher in South Bengaluru.
Those schools that are yet to complete portions have decided to ask students to finish these lessons as assignments or project work. But not all parents are on board. “When students are racing against time to study for the examination, why should school managements give such pointless exercises ?" said Shreyas S., parent of a Class X student.
