Date:04/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/04/stories/2007110458510100.htm

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Work on to implement common syllabus for schools in State

R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI: Work on implementing a common syllabus for different streams of school education in the State has begun, according to School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu. As a first step, the School Education Department is working to ensure that all examinations are brought to a standard base of 500 marks. Once the standardised examination procedure is adopted, the maximum mark a student in Standard X can score, irrespective of the stream of study, will be 500.

“We are working to ensure there is a smooth transition when we adopt the common syllabus… A proposal is being prepared on a common base for examinations,” says Mr. Thennarasu.

Fixing the base mark as 500 for public examinations in Standard X was a comparatively easier task. The department is working out the modalities. This year’s public examination is expected to be according to the new base mark.

The Minister says the department is carrying out elaborate discussions on the actual implementation. There can be no mistakes while migrating to the new common syllabus. “Nowhere in the country has this been attempted, so far. We will be a model for others (States). It is a huge task and we are keen on adopting it on an early date.”

The common syllabus will be applicable to all State board, Oriental, Anglo-Indian and Matriculation stream schools, but will exclude the Central Board of Secondary Education schools. The department is also working to revamp the vocational education curriculum. The new courses will be offered from the next academic year. “We need to completely revamp the system. When students complete the course and come out, they should be employable. Otherwise, there is no meaning to the term [vocational education],” says the Minister.

The aim is to make all students acquire one skill or the other in school. The course will be revamped and all students in the higher secondary-level given an opportunity to learn a skill apart from their studies.