Just as the schools had started to reopen in a phase-wise manner, the second wave of COVID-19 has forced administrations to continue the classes online. The academic session 2020 was held digitally which led to loss of instructional hours. As a result, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had reduced the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the academic year 2020-21 by up to 30 per cent. Other state boards soon followed the suite. Now, as the new academic session is being held in digital mode too, is do students need a syllabus cut this year as well?
Many teachers and students have been demanding a “rationalization” of the syllabus to reduce stress, the major concern is to ensure no learning gaps.
Charu Wahi, principal, Nirmal Bhartia School, also affiliated with CBSE believes “careful consideration and deliberation” can “reduce the pressure and anxiety of students during exams”, however, she emphasized the need for covering learning gaps.
“While a slash in the syllabus may be considered to reduce the stress on students, covering all important topics and teaching essential skills is necessary to ensure a sound understanding of fundamentals concepts. The loss in learning last year was significant enough and students and teachers must o all that they can to ensure that the learning gaps are identified and dealt with appropriately,” said Wahi.
Better Prepared for Online Classes
Having conducted an entire year online, schools now consider themselves to be better prepared for completing syllabus in online mode.
“In the previous session, the syllabus reduction by CBSE came in the wake of an unprecedented pandemic situation, and sudden transition to remote learning methods. In the current session 2021-22, however, the entire students-teachers community is better tuned in to remote learning. Hence the syllabus reduction seems unwarranted right now,” said Sangeeta Hajela, Principal of CBSE-affiliated DPS Indirapuram.
She adds that it is too early to think about syllabus reduction and can be thought of a little later in the year as it would leave some learning gaps, which is highly undesirable.
Echoing similar sentiments, Rajat Goel, director of MRG School, Rohini said, “Most of the schools have adapted very well to online mode. Both students and teachers have understood the online mode work. Schools have created systems that work. Therefore we don’t feel that there is any need of reducing the syllabus.”
Syllabus Needs to be Improvised
More than syllabus cut, some academicians believe that the need is to change the syllabus and make it more adaptive to the current situation.
Dr. Sunita Gandhi, founder of Global Education and Training Institute (GETI), and City Montessori School that follows both CISCE and CAIE curriculum says that improvising the syllabus would be a better step than reducing it.
“We must add project-based learning to impart practical knowledge, if at all we are looking at improvising the syllabus. What should also be looked at is how we are preparing the young generation for a life in service of community. We must encourage high school students to teach the illiterate and this initiative should come from the educational institutions. Our curriculum needs strong and long-standing structural changes apart from a few additions and subtractions right now,” she suggests.
Although the syllabus has been reduced for board exams 2021, exams are yet to be held due to the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. CBSE has postponed Class 12 exams and canceled Class 10 exams for 2021. CISCE, CAIE, IB, and state have also either deferred, rescheduled or canceled board exams this year too. Students have been demanding cancelation of class 12 exams.
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