Panel moots revision of school curriculum

Curriculum was last revised during the tenure of the previous UDF government

Close on the heels of the recommendation of revision in school textbooks, the curriculum subcommittee has mooted revision of the entire curriculum.

A two-day meeting of the subcommittee that concluded here on Wednesday put up the recommendation for curriculum revision for the curriculum steering committee’s perusal.

The curriculum was last revised during the tenure of the previous United Democratic Front government. Bids by the LDF government to revise the curriculum did not reach anywhere, and a committee was appointed to examine if any changes were to be introduced in textbooks. The recommendations of this committee were discussed by the two-day curriculum subcommittee and forwarded to the curriculum steering committee for a final decision on October 23.

Changes in 67 textbooks of classes 1, 5, 9, and 10 were recommended. The move to remove material by Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, C.P. Sreedharan, and N.V. Krishna Warrier from the textbooks had run into opposition during Tuesday’s meeting.

The subcommittee rejected some of the recommended changes in the textbooks. It decided that the recommendation for changes in Class 9 and 10 social science textbook be examined afresh by a committee. Removal of small notes on the Kundara proclamation, Colachel battle, and some other topics and portions relating to personalities such as Kunhali Marakkar, Vikaram Sarabhai, and others had been the proposed changes. However, following opposition at the subcommittee meeting, it was decided that these will be re-examined by a committee.

The subcommittee also rejected the recommendation to omit from the class 9 Malayalam textbook an extract from K.M. Mathew’s autobiography ‘Ettamathe Mothiram.’