The State government on Friday announced the composition of a nine-member committee to examine the quality of syllabus and textbooks under the Samacheer Kalvi scheme.
G. Balasubramanian, former Director (Academics), Central Board of Secondary Education, and Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan, former principal of Lady Andal Venkatasubba Rao School and advisor of Seva Sadan, Chennai, are the representatives of the State. C. Jaidev, founder and secretary of the DAV group of Schools, and Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, dean and director, PSBB Group of Schools, are the two educationists. P.K. Tripathi and Anil Sethi, professors of science-mathematics and social science, are the nominees of the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT).
Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi is the chairperson of the committee. Secretary of School Education D. Sabitha is another member. The Director of School Education is the member-secretary.
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Giving particulars of the composition, a release issued by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa stated that the panel would submit its report to the Madras High Court by July 6, as directed by the Supreme Court.
The inaugural meeting of the committee took place at Fort St. George on Friday evening. It lasted over an hour.
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The Democratic Youth Federation of India questioned the inclusion of Mr. Jaidev and Mrs. Y.G.P. in the committee as ‘educationists.' In a statement here, the DYFI State committee said they owned private schools in Chennai. Such proprietors of schools could not be described as educationists.
“It is well known that managements of private schools have been vehemently opposing the uniform syllabus. The committee has not been constituted in the interests of students and parents; on the contrary it appears to be an attempt to bury deep the concept of ‘Samacheer Kalvi',” the DYFI said.