Heavier books, tougher syllabus await students

CHENNAI: The much politicised debate after the new AIADMK government took over — on which syllabus school students should follow — has finally been resolved, nearly 50 days after schools opened for the academic year. But, for school teachers and students, the real problem — handling the academic competence of the new syllabus and the ways to teach it in a shorter time — has just begun.At Jaigopal Garodia School for Girls, Saidapet, on Wednesday, one of the centres for the distribution of USE textbooks, there were loud murmurs over the quality of the new textbooks, their enhanced visual appeal and colourful pictorial lessons. Alongside, teachers of government and government-aided schools also shared soft whispers over increasing burden of the school students with heavier books and tougher syllabus.At a time when there is a demand to reduce the book burden of school students, these textbooks, which are bigger than those of the old syllabus, and are definitely heavier, can add to their heavy schoolbag woes, said a teacher of a government school.  “The total number of pages in these books is the same as the old books but the paper — which is whiter and thicker — is making the books heavy,” said a school teacher of a government school in South Chennai. Most books for the higher classes­ contained between 240 and 280 pages.The books printed for the old syllabus had paper of 60 GSM thickness, but the new textbooks, which were multicolour, required the use of thicker 80 GSM paper. ‘’The new books are at least twenty per cent heavier for most subjects than their older counterparts,’’ said a  teacher of a North Chennai school.The physical difficulty aside, students are sure to have a tougher time in coping with such competitive syllabus, contended another teacher of the same school. This is definitely a giant leap for government and government-aided schools, as there is at least a 40 per cent increase in the standard of the lessons from last year. “This is why we would have preferred the system being introduced in phases, not at one go,” said a teacher.Added to these teething problems are the troubles posed by time constraints. “We are already starting the classes two months late because of the confusion over which syllabus to follow. The last two months, our school has been relying on the CDs given by the government about practical classes for different subjects. We even skipped our mid-term tests, usually held in August, because of this syllabus mayhem,” said another government school teacher, not willing to be named. “Many matriculation schools are talking of having additional classes to cover the syllabus, but I am doubtful if we will finish it on time,” said another staff member of a government-aided school.