Tamil Nadu mulls adopting NCERT syllabus for high school

Chennai: The impending National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet) for medical courses has made the school education department contemplate adopting the NCERT syllabus for higher secondary classes in the state board.

Though the officials from the department ruled out the possibility of introducing NCERT books from the next academic year due to the paucity of time,  discussions are on to make significant changes to plus one books in order to prepare students to face competitive examinations like Neet and JEE. “We have mooted the discussions in this regard.

Still, there is time to make changes in plus one books for next academic year which are yet to be printed.  Adopting the NCERT books for part-III subjects alone (Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Biology) are one of the suggestions that the department is seriously considering,” sources said.

It has been 12 years since the higher secondary syllabus updated in the state. “The updated state board syllabus is awaiting the government’s approval for nearly three years. This new syllabus will prepare the students for the 21st-century challenges. The updated syllabus is even better than the current NCERT syllabus in some counts,” a syllabus committee member said.

But some officials in the department are feeling that switching to the NCERT syllabus is not a bad idea. “Even if the school education department updates the higher secondary syllabus, there would still be some complaints saying the new syllabus is not up to the CBSE standard. So, switching to NCERT books is not a bad idea,” sources added.

But one main problem is in translating NCERT books in the very short span of time available for the experts before the start of the next academic year. There is also another proposal mooted by some officials suggest changing the question patterns and examination system in the current syllabus. “Asking the applications oriented questions can be the beginning of the entire process,” officials said.
“Syllabus wise there is a little difference between the state board and CBSE.

There are 5 per cent to 8 per cent  difference among them. But the question patterns and evaluation method is completely different. CBSE exams test the students’ thinking ability, whereas we still stuck with the memory based exams,” officials said.

When asked about the current status of the upgrading the higher secondary syllabus, a senior official from the school education department said, “It is yet to be decided.”