On Tuesday, as state Education Minister Vinod Tawde released the guidance book for the first-ever state scholarship exams to be held for Std V and VIII students from this year, the much-awaited revised syllabus for the exams was released at the same time. For the first time, since the inception of the state scholarship exams, the syllabus has been completely revised by a committee of experts and is now more interactive. Instead of the old system of rote learning, the new syllabus has for the first time taken into account application-based learning and a large percentage of questions are based on it besides tricky multiple choice questions, which would test the conceptual knowledge of students. Launching the guidance book, Tawde said while the state is making efforts to identify students who haven’t been able to cope with studies and is devising strategies for them through its ‘Educationally Advanced Maha-rashtra’ programme, it is equally important to identify and nurture students who are academically advanced which the state scholarship exam would achieve. [related-post] Meanwhile, Gangadhar Mhamane, chairman of the Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) said that the biggest change was that instead of Std IV and VII, the exams would be held for Std V and VIII, as necessitated by the Right to Education Act. Another major change is that instead of three papers, students would write two papers—first language and mathematics of 150 marks and third language along with mental ability test for 150 marks. “If one looks at the revised syllabus, they would notice that a lot of questions are application-based and that is because we want to move students away from the rote learning pattern. We want to ensure that they understand concepts. With the scholarship exams, students would get the taste of competitive exams for the first time,” Mhamane said. The revised syllabus and exam pattern was uploaded on the website www.mscepune.in on Tuesday. It clearly shows the bend towards applied learning. For example, in the Std V English syllabus, it shows that 12 per cent of the exam would be based on creative thinking and questions would include solving puzzles and riddles with the given clues and creating advertisements. Numerical information, which carries 12 per cent weightage, includes showing directions, telling time, etc. Similarly for Std VIII, crossword puzzles, games and even SMS language is now part of the syllabus. “In fact for Std VIII students, we would have multiple-choice trick questions where some question may have more than one answer given below or no correct answer to test how much a student applies his or her mind,” said RV Godhane, commissioner, MSCE. Mhamane said that even though no model question papers have been prepared yet, they would be uploaded before the exams in February. Meanwhile, the revised syllabus has already generated much buzz in academic circles. “The application-based teaching and learning pattern is only picking up now and that too, in higher classes. Before expecting students to move towards it, we must change our teaching patterns. Also, no kind of training has been undertaken by teachers on the revised syllabus and we fear that since it is a new pattern, the number of students getting scholarships could dip,” said Pramod Nemade, leader of the state-level association of school principals.
