For the past few months, T. Mukund has spent his days solving question papers of previous years for his Plus 2 exams. His efforts paid off when the Tamil Paper I had all the questions that he anticipated.
Mukund is like thousands of other students who rely solely on previous years’ papers for their preparations. “Whether it is in school or in tuition classes, we are asked to solve past question papers, because the questions never change,” Mukund said.
G. Rajalakshmi, who has been tutoring higher secondary students for the past 15 years, says that as long as students practice with the past three years’ papers, they are guaranteed to get at least 80 per cent. “Most of the times, in mathematics, even the numbers do not change,” she said. While repeating questions may be a good thing for the students, educationists feel that not changing the syllabus would be detrimental in the long run.
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D. Viswanathan, former Vice Chancellor of Anna University, feels that unless the syllabus is updated every five years, students’ knowledge will not be up to date. “Since the lessons have not changed at all, there are only so many questions that can be posed,” he said, adding that this trend would only force children to learn by rote and not apply their mind. In the CBSE system, on the other hand, the syllabus is updated often and they ensure application-based questions are also introduced into the examination.
According to a principal of a school in Adyar, while the stagnant syllabus meant that more children had a chance to do well in the exams; it also meant that many students who went to college struggled . “Many students who score very well in school can’t manage in college as they are forced to mug answers and presentations,” he said.
The School Education Department, however, says there are no plans to change the syllabus in the near future. “The present syllabus meets the National Curriculum Framework guidelines, and there have been no complaints on the content so far,” an official said.
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