The recent decision by Delhi Government to reduce 25% syllabus for classes 6 to 8 in its schools in order to incorporate skill-based subjects will not lead to any ‘loss of learning’ to students as efforts are being made to ‘recycle’ the deleted portions of the syllabus in more constructive forms, officials say.
The decision which was already under scrutiny for being arbitrary and ill-exectued, by various activists and academicians, continues to make news, as the Directorate of Education (DoE) officials, said that the experts are studying the subjects that can be deleted, and are also keeping in mind how the same set of learnings can be ‘recycled’ and ‘reused’ in higher grades to ensure that the basic standards of learning for each class do not suffer. “There is not going to be any loss of learning for students if the syllabus is going to be sacrificed for co-curricular activities like music, arts and theater. Whatever portions will be deleted from the syllabus are likely to be incorporated in ‘some form or the other’ in the higher grades,” a senior DoE official told PTI.
The AAP Government has decided to reduce the syllabus in Delhi Schools by 25%, reducing the workload on students and to ensure that schools bags get lighter.
“This reshuffling and reduction of the syllabus is indispensable because we realised that half of the students can’t even read and write properly. Class 6 students do not know basic mathematics. So we are deleting some portions of the syllabus to make space for basic skills programme and learning,” the official added.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had earlier this month announced the AAP government’s decision to reduce 25% syllabus for classes 6 to 8 from October onward to integrate more skill-based courses, art, theater and sports in its education system. A similar reduction is expected for the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 from next year. The government had recently then invited suggestions from teachers to reduce syllabi and nearly 40,000 inputs have been received by it. “Inputs have been received and then the draft for the reduction will be worked out. This experiment will be introduced in 50 model government schools on a pilot basis from the current academic session,” the official said.