Millenium8217;s school students and unlearnt lessons from curriculum

MUMBAI, May 24: The world is learning Windows, but we are stuck with the basics. No computerese this, but some plain childrenspeak, of a ...

MUMBAI, May 24: The world is learning Windows, but we are stuck with the basics. No computerese this, but some plain childrenspeak, of a student labouring over an outdated curriculum that is supposed to equip him or her to step out of the cocooned classroom into an edge-of-the-millenium world.A series of on-going meetings organised by a group of students at the Nehru Centre at Worli haven8217;t just taken the lid off the frustrations of children trapped by a system that one child compared to Tihar jail. Students, some from X standard and others from the VIII and IX, also took potshots at the curriculum, which they said is divorced from the latest goings-on.

Science should have more of practicals and demonstrations in laboratories and not just theories on paper. Different science streams like physics, chemistry and biology should be not clubbed together as Science I and II, rather, they should be put in separate text books. The Marathi curriculum doesn8217;t sharpen language skills, rather, poems have to be learntby rote for oral tests. Translation or conversational skills are not tested. Language should not be marked, but graded. These complaints were mainly from students of schools affiliated to the SSC board. The students8217; group holding the discussions have chosen not to name themselves. 8220;We titled ourselves merely as a students; group working under Nehru Centre as that gained us smooth entry in the schools,8221; explained engineering student Aditya Bhat, a group member.

Another group member, Aditi Samant, an arts student who has just taken her Higher Secondery examination, pointed out that the complaints attain a louder pitch when it comes to subjects like history, which is frozen at 1947! Between standards III and X, the same events and personalities flit across the textbooks, without a semblance of chronology. Thus, sanitised sound bytes on the 50 years of Indian independence only from jingoistic ad promos rather than from the curriculum. In geography, field trips are an absolute no-no, even asschools merrily organise picnics. While value education makes claims to gender equality, the norm is that crafts is open only to boys and the feminine8217; cooking and stitching for girls, pointed out Aditi. Debates and discussions on current affairs are also not entrenched in the curriculum. As for the MCC Maharashtra Cadet Corps, why should it be restricted for standard IX? In any case what is the point when one has only to march under the hot sun. Those in-charge are hardly inspiring since they are always late, happily coming in way behind the scheduled time.

The students and their parents also offered some solutions: Raise funds by allowing affluent parents to pay for their wards8217; education. Secondary schooling is free in government schools for both sexes. Form a watchdog 8211; either governmental or private 8211; to appraise teachers8217; pedagogic skills where students can give their verdict by secret ballot. Let SSC students be given the same opportunity as IX standard ICSE students who have the choice ofcompletely abandoning select subjects for a subject of one8217;s choice. Is anyone listening?