While textbooks for the second term for classes 1 to 8 are under preparation, the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) recently brought out a system to review the content of the first term textbooks which are in use.
Classes 1 to 8 have three term books — one for each term — and classes 9 to 12 have one single textbook for the year.
An error in the Class 12 English textbook relating to the antiquity of the Tamil language created a furore a few days back.
“The SCERT has set up a review system a month ago which has roped in faculty from the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) from 32 districts. These faculty members will visit schools and analyse the content from the textbooks which are being taught in classrooms,” a senior official said.
The system has been implemented to ensure that the SCERT has a consolidated report of changes to be made to first term books before they are sent for re-printing before the next academic year.
The DIET faculty who visit schools have been instructed to sit through classroom lessons as well as interact with teachers handling the content so that they can check if the chapters are appropriate to the age as well as whether they are factual errors, grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, an official said.
Four reports received
“At the end of every week, the DIET principals from each district send us a consolidated report based on the reports submitted by the faculty with regard to the content. We have received four such reports so far and want to establish a continuous review process,” the official added.
The process is expected to culminate at the end of each term with the SCERT holding a review meeting involving teachers, DIET faculty members and textbook authors, who will analyse the changes recommended and then implement them.
For higher classes which have only a single book, a review meeting will be held once every three months to discuss possible changes.
While the curricula for classes 1, 6, 9 and 12 had already been revamped, in 2019-20 the other classes got new textbooks with the revamped curriculum.
The School Education Minister had said a few days back that the department was working to rectify errors in textbooks and identified 19 mistakes so far.
