CONTENT AND CURRICULUM
 

Shri Chitta Basu, MP, General Secretary, All India Forward Block, 28, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi (15.10.90)

- Education should be totally scientific in its outlook. At all levels of education, from primary to the higher stage, only what is scientifically established should be the subject-matter of studies.

Shri S.P. Patil, Headmaster, Z.P. Primary School, Pune (30.9.90)

- Child care should be made an integral part of education.

- Quality of education should be improved at the secondary and university levels by imparting such education which is socially useful.

Swami Sanatan Shri, Shri Sanatan Ashram, Kursi Road, Lucknow.

- Education should be imparted through stories, plays and games and students should be taken to various religious places.

Shri Shashi Bhushan Singh, Noomar, Dadha, Monghyr, Bihar.

- Number of subjects of study should be reduced. Students should be made familiar with the day to day world affairs. Yoga education should be made compulsory. Biographies of great personalities should be taught.

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Dr. Krishna Lal, Professor and Head, Department of Sanskrit University of Delhi (20.09.1990)

- As our ancient Sanskrit literature is full of knowledge on various subjects, it should be taught compulsorily and necessary provision should be made for the same in the syllabus.

Shri Naval Kishore Prasad Singh, Assistant Secretary, All India Federation of Elementary Teachers Organisation, Shikshak Bhawan, Arya Kumar Road, Patna (24.9.1990)

- The syllabus committee should include experienced qualified and competent teachers alongwith the concerned officers.

- Syllabus at primary level should be prepared carefully. Text books for this level should be pictorial and of high quality; subject matter should be modem; language should be simple.

Shri M.R.N. Gaonekar, Headmaster, Smt. Hirabai Talaulikar High School, Sancordem-Goa.

- There should be a common syllabus for all Universities with some variations in each State according to its needs.

- A child from whatever source of traditional knowledge comes, should be taught systematically that traditional knowledge which should be incorporated in the educational system.

The Principal, Adarsh Inter College, Shambhuganj, Jonpur (6.10.90)

- The syllabus should not be heavy.

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Dr. B.D. Swami, 62/4, Shivpuri, Meerut City-250001 (26th October, 1990)

- Syllabus should include lessons on environment, social conditions, agriculture, industry etc. The curriculum should be such that it develops civic sense and social integration.

Dr. Jyoti Shankar, Secretary, Teachers Association, K.A.D. College, Allahabad (5th October, 1990

- Uniform course contents should be introduced in all Universities with minor variations to suit local needs.

Dr. R. Bandyopadhyay, Director, Centre for Applied Systems Analysis in Development, D-5/8, Salunke Vihar, Pune-411022 (19.10.90)

- It is necessary that formal pre-entry educational system (before taking up a job or entering a profession) should be integrated with post-entry educational and training systems available with various organisations offering productive employment.

- Attempts should be made (as in West Germany) to create appropriate adjustments between streams and graduation from vocational and technical education system on the one hand and the needs of the enterprises on the other.

Ms. Rupa Athreya, C/o Mrityunjay B. Athreya, A-28, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi (9th October, 1990)

- Instead of making all students at the higher secondary level do a core curriculum, they be given choices, but not as rigidly compartmentalised as they currently are.

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Prof. Hira Adyanthaya, Dean, Tilak Maharashtra Vidya-peeth, Vidyapeeth Bhavan, Gultekadi, Pune 411037 (16.10.90)

- Syllabi and text book should be modified to make them relevant to social and environmental conditions.

Shri R.S. Bharadwaj, General Secretary, Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, K- 30, Green Park Main, New Delhi-110016 (9.10.90)

- There should be liberal provision for research in Indology.

- Physical education should be treated as an integral part of education. Yogic education should be made compulsory upto secondary stage. It should be included in the list of optional subjects at higher level in the unviersities.

- Environmental education should be made an integral part of syllabi right from the pre-primary stage.

Shri Y.K. Gupta, Reader in English, Regional College of Education., Mysore-570006 (8th October, 1990)

- Education structure should be 10+2+3+2 for academic spectrum and 10+2+4+1 1/2 for professional spectrum alongwith research from 1 to 3 years. There should be uniformity with flexibility. For this purpose National Core Curriculum (for uniformity) and State Core Curriculum, District Core Curriculum and Local Curriculum (for flexibility) should be developed. For higher education (both academic and professional) national curriculum, State curriculum and local curricula should be developed. It will help in attaining decentralised system of education.

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- Computer education should form a part of curriculum from elementary stage to university stage in all types of education - academic, technical, vocational and professional, since in times to come computers will be used both for personal and productive purposes.

Shri Vikas Bhatt, Acting Director, Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, P.B. No. 7, E-5, Arera Colony, Tawa Housing Board Complex, Bhopal (16th October, 1990)

- Cultural heritage whether folk art, rock art, objects of daily life, or monuments should be systematically Included in formal education at Its different levels. In fact there is a need to create linkages between education and culture at policy level.

Dr. Usha Nayar, HOD, Department of Women's Studies, NCERT, New Delhi (23.10.90)

- Unless the content of textbooks is indigenised, designed and developed in local languages by the subject experts themselves in simple language with due regard to local environment and gender dimension, the curriculum will remain a burden, unattractive to larger population, particularly, the girls from rural areas and weaker sections.

Shri V.S. Jotheeswaran, 7, Pillayar Kovil Street, Extn-Tirupattur (27.10.1990)

- The students should be trained in the services of the society. The curriculum should be so oriented. NSS/Red Cross/Scout/NCC should be made compulsory right from the beginning of sixth standard.

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Shri K.S. Acharlu, Gandhi Vigyan, 80, Temple Road, I Main, Malleswaram, Bangalore-560 003 (8.10.90)

- The present school curriculum is unrealistic and unhelpful. For one thing, the curriculum does not contribute to the integrated development of the personality of the pupil. Secondly, the curricula do not take into consideration the cultural, social and economic differences of the regions and sub-regions in any natural geographical region. Every natural region has its own life pattern in social manners and customs, economic life, fanning pattern etc. A standard curriculum for the entire area will be unrealistic and without meaning.

- We have ignored in education the rich treasures and wisdom of traditional knowledge possessed by the people in the countryside in the educational system from the primary stage to the University. Our ancient literature acclaimed to be the richest in depth of thought and forms of language is a sealed book to our children and youth.

- The evolution of a common school system should not certainly mean uniformity of curriculum, plans and programmes all over the country for all sections of the people and for all regions but the reconstruction of education to suit the life needs of the different life styles and cultural patterns of the people without permitting elitist aberrations.

- Plenty of oral recitation, story telling and loud readings should be encouraged.

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- The natural and social environment should be the medium of education.

Ms. Marie Correa, All India Association for Christian Higher Education, 39, Institutional Area, D-Block, Janakpuri, New Delhi- 110058 (16.10.90)

- The syllabus/curriculum for education from pre-primary to doctoral research stage should be planned as a whole. Phase I should be from KG to Class VII (agewise 3-12 years). The subjects should be divided into a series of units each to be completed in three months. It should include academic subjects which are relevant to life and work, arts and crafts (SUPW) and moral values. Internal assessment by the teacher concerned should be the only form of evaluation. Thus interest would be sustained, the "drop-out" rate would drop, the link between the worlds of school and work would be maintained and there would be provision for multiple entry and exit points. At the end of this stage a form of career guidance tests should be planned to determine eligibility for specific vocational courses or specialised higher educational programmes. The second phase should be Stds VIII-XII (ages 13-17) following the same system with gradations towards more knowledge in the world of school and more practice (field work) in the world of work. Phase III should be university education for graduation, post-graduation and research which again should be inter-linked. Here the freedom of choice of modules would be significant.

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Shri Gangaram M. Mistry, Headmaster, Unchi Dhanal Prathmik Shala, At&PO Unchidhanal, Distt. Sabarkantha (Gujarat) (15.10.90)

- Text-books should be prepared in such a manner that they contain value-based and culture-oriented lessons which help in building good moral character.

Prof. B.S. Sonde, Prof. S.V. Subramanyam and others, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (18.10.90)

- How to reformulate the school curricula to meet the wide range of demands of the society is a very difficult question to answer. A group of educationists and subject experts may be charged with the task to work this out.

Prof. B.S. Sonde, Prof. S.V. Subramanyam and others, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (18.10.90)

- Science education at school level should be given much more attention and resources than are given now. It is necessary to have an integrated approach to science teaching. It must have greater emphasis on observation and experimentation. At college level it should have a close link with technology programmes.

Shri Rajesh Kumar Jain, 330 Income Tax Colony, Uttari Pitam Pura, Delhi (23rd October, 1990)

- More emphasis must be given on moral education. Religious education should be made an integral part of education.

- Sex education must be made an integral part of education. It must be imparted in classrooms.

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Dr. T.H.V. Prasada Rao, Principal, M.V.S.R. Engineering College, 6-1- 486, Saidabad, Hyderabad (14.10.90)

- Basic agricultural science must be introduced alongwith other science curricula right from the middle school courses in rural schools for rural people.

- In many states it has become almost a common practice to prescribe a single text book to be taught in all the schools in the State. This is not a good practice. Only the syllabus and the terminal behaviour (end result expected) must be prescribed by the state body. Each institution should be free to choose suitable text books.

- Sportsmanship is one of the essential qualities of a citizen of an egalitarian society. Physical education must be compulsory throughout the educational career of a student.

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