Sisodia urges HRD Minister to reduce syllabus by 30 pc

Manish Sisodia

In the wake of COVID-19, Delhi deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia pitched for a 30 percent reduction in the syllabus for all grades to make up for the loss.

In a letter written to Union Human Resource Development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Sisodia asserted that since people need to learn to live with coronavirus now, it would be better if the already existing learning spaces like schools, take up that role. Noting that online teaching can only complement learning in schools and not replace it, he said. It would be a historical blunder if the opportunity is left to pass by not trusting schools with a bigger and bolder role.

“First of all, we need to assure every child irrespective of age and social class that they are important to us and all of them have an equal right to physical and intellectual space of their respective schools. The clamour of online teaching or older children coming to school first and not the younger ones should be put to rest. Online teaching can only complement learning in school, not replace it,” Sisodia said.

“In the process of learning to live with coronavirus, there would be major changes in schools across the world. It is for us to decide whether we reorganize our schools based on the need of our country, our society and learning from our own great history or we wait for other countries or some other societies to do something and then we copy-paste those here. In my view we need to take decisive steps now,” the deputy chief minister said.

Sisodia, also suggested that distinct approach be followed in early childhood education, elementary grades segment, secondary and senior secondary students. “Syllabus be reduced by at least 30 percent across all grades and subjects. Emphasis should be on depth in learning and understanding rather than spreading far and wide. Combine this with exam reforms. CBSE should move away from the one-time high-stake exam of class 10 and 12 to a model of continuous evaluation so that students can take the online exam whenever they want,” he said.

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