Primary syllabus tailored for competency

PUNE, May 13: Based on the competency-based syllabus prepared by the State government for Standards I to V, the Maharashtra State Bureau of ...

PUNE, May 13: Based on the competency-based syllabus prepared by the State government for Standards I to V, the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research is now ready with the pictorial and activity-oriented textbooks for Class III and IV in English, Mathematics and General Science subjects which will hit the market on May 22 and June 1, while text books in Marathi medium have already been released.

If teachers have been given the academic freedom to decide the pace of learning for his/her class 8211; as the focus of the competency based approach is on reducing the load8217; of learning, then adequate care has been taken not to tax the child8217;s cramming8217; skills in the science text while a lot of exercises and activities form the basis of the solving the maths problems.

In fact, the English text also has several footnotes on practically every page directing the teacher how to develop their competency. For instance, reading aloud sight, bright, fight, might and right8217; would have the teacher encouraging the children to recite poems or narrate simple stories with proper modulation and action. Out of the nine areas of listening, speaking, reading, writing, comprehension, functional grammar, self-learning, language use and vocabulary control, it will be teacher8217;s primary task to ensure that competence is achieved by the entire class for each language activity.

Dr Vasant Kalpande, director of the State Bureau for Textbook Production and Curriculum Research said that the textbook presents a series of graded activities or learning experiences with the relevant competency numbers. For instance in the area of listening, stress would be given on developing competencies like understanding narrations, descriptions and poems, understanding conversation and dialogues in unfamiliar situations and understanding oral instructions for playing games and carrying out simple activities.

The Bureau has printed a total of 6.75 crores copies of textbooks from Standard I to XII out of which 2.37 crores are new books. The entire cost of production is estimated at Rs 45 crores and the texts are printed in eight languages Marathi, English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarathi, Sindhi, Kannada and Telugu.

The textbook reflects the students8217; interests through choice of material available for their age group. Specimen tests have also been included in the textbook to illustrate the method of getting feedback regarding the attainment of desired competencies.

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