In a big relief to the school students, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday announced that from the 2019 academic session the NCERT syllabus will be reduced by half. Keeping student’s all-round development into consideration, the minister said that school syllabus was more than that of BA and B.Com courses which are needed to be reduced by half so that students get time for other activities as well. While talking in an interview, Javadekar said that at the stage of development of cognitive skills, students need to be given full freedom. He said that he has asked NCERT to reduce the syllabus by half and it will be effective from the 2019 academic session.
However, the minister while elaborating on the reforms in school education also said that examinations and detentions would be introduced. He said that without examination, there is no competition and no target. He further said that a Bill in this regard will be considered in Parliament in the next part of the Budget Session. Javadekar explained that if a student fails in March, he would get another chance in May and if a student flunks both the times, then only he/she would be detained.
While expressing his concern over the poor quality of teachers, he said that it is the reason behind poor learning outcomes. He highlighted the fact that under the Right to Education Act, only five lakh out of 20 lakh teachers who were to be trained by 2015, could be covered. The basic task of teachers is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of students and mentor them accordingly, he said. Regarding the much-talked-about New Education Policy, Javadekar informed that a report in this regard will be submitted by the end of next month and it would be unveiled soon thereafter after necessary approvals.