Class 10 students in State board schools will have a single textbook for Social Studies from the current academic year in Tamil Nadu.
As a part of the revised syllabus, the students previously had two volumes for social studies which comprised lessons for History, Geography, Civics and Economics.
In July last year, the State Council for Educational Research and Technology(SCERT) had begun a review of the textbooks with the revised curriculum. Teachers as well as faculty members from the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) were roped in to review and analyse the content as well as the way it was being taught in the classrooms.
“While the Social Studies syllabus was interesting, it was very vast and many students struggled to study two textbooks for their board exams. The new single textbook now has retained the same topics, but has done away with some in-depth information as well as exercises which were given for a few lessons,” said C. Sridhar, a Social Studies teacher from Vellore.
With the SCERT choosing to review all the textbooks with the new syllabus, a teacher said that they expected similar changes in other subjects as well. “Science too has too many lessons and we expect that the content will be reduced based on the review carried out,” a teacher from a government school said.
Except Chennai, Chengalpettu, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts which are currently under lockdown, the School Education Department said that free textbooks would be given directly to government schools whenever they were available. A majority of students and teachers are yet to get the textbooks for the academic year.
