Writer Baragur Ramachandrappa, here on Monday, took a dig at Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore’s statement that the school syllabus will be reduced by 50 per cent to introduce sports as part of the curriculum. “There was jubilation among some people over the Minister’s statement, but the issue deserved a serious debate,” he said at a seminar organised by Kannada lecturers of Pre-University colleges of Hassan.
Reducing the burden of the syllabus on students and giving importance to sports at the school level deserve appreciation. “I agree students should take up sports and engage in cultural activities as well. But, the issue we need to discuss is what should be core subjects in schools and what should be supplementary, what should be compulsory, what should be optional. I am not against sports. The fact that such an announcement was made by the Sports Minister, not the Minister for Human Resource Development, should make one think over it seriously”, he said.
Government schools
Commenting on the decision to close government schools, Mr. Baragur Ramachandrappa said the government and public should seriously think about the reasons that forced the closure of schools.
“We all should think why government schools reached this stage. The party in power wants to close down the schools and those in the Opposition oppose the decision. Instead of just opposing, we need to find out the reasons behind such a situation”, he said.
