Madhyamik course rehaul to woo pupils.... syllabus is being revised and updated to make it more "contemporary"

TT, 6 March 2019,  Salt Lake: The Bengal secondary board syllabus is being revised and updated to make it more "contemporary". The education department has asked the state syllabus restructure committee to review the existing Madhyamik syllabus and recommend necessary steps to make it on a par with the ICSE and CBSE curricula. 

The Madhyamik question pattern and marking system have been revised over the past few years to match the ICSE and CBSE system. Even then, Madhyamik schools are finding it tough to retain good students, an official of the school education department said. The government has reports that many students from Madhyamik schools switch to other boards before Class IX. 

The review is aimed at identifying the gap between the Madhyamik syllabus and the ones followed by the ICSE and CBSE boards. Forty per cent multiplechoice and one-mark questions were introduced in all subjects from Madhyamik 2016 to make the test more scoring. Ten per cent marks have been allotted to internal assessment in all subjects. 

The Madhyamik syllabus needs to be reviewed to find out why students still prefer other boards, the official said. "I have asked the syllabus restructure committee to re- view the Madhyamik syllabus. We want to examine whether the Madhyamik syllabus can be made contemporary. The exercise has begun," education minister Partha Chatterjee said.

The syllabus restructure committee has been asked to give its suggestions to the government as soon as possible. After receiving the report, the school education department will send it to chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her approval.

"Once we get the nod from the chief minister's office, the proposal will be sent to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education for its acceptance. The final decision will have to be taken by the board," the official said.

The revised Madhyamik syllabus will be introduced in Class IX in 2020, according to the school education department official.

Students who appear for Madhyamik in 2022 will be the first to be tested on the revised syllabus.

Topics taught by the ICSE and CBSE boards will be examined thoroughly in all the subjects, the official said. For instance, some topics in science and mathematics are taught in more detail in ICSE than in Madhyamik. Suggestions can be given to the state secondary board to bridge such gaps.

"The Madhyamik syllabus of certain subjects may have to be thoroughly restructured. On the other hand, the syllabus will not be diluted if the content in Madhyamik is found to be better than that of the ICSE and CBSE syllabus in any subject," the official said.

The syllabus restructure committee has been asked to be careful about its suggestions because, unlike the ICSE and CBSE, the Madhyamik curriculum caters to a large section of students in rural areas..