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Karnataka: Textbooks controversy worries parents

The government has constituted a committee to look into the issues surrounding the text books.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Government and Department of Public Instruction (DPI) are finding it difficult to decide what to teach and what not to under the state syllabus from Std I to XII, following the controversy surrounding saffronisation and de-saffronisation moves.

The Government has constituted a committee to look into the issues surrounding the text books and new text books will be made available only in the next academic year.

Due to these controversies some parents are even reportedly planning to send their wards to CBSE or ICSE schools in the city. The CBSE’s move to bring in some technological innovations has also evoked interest among parents. According to CBSE students all the textbooks between Std I and XII have been made available online (cbse.nic.in/ecbse/index.html) and it has also introduced an app e-pathashala. The National Council of Educational Research and Training has hosted all its text books between Std I and XII on its website ncert.nic.in/ncerts/textbook/textbook.htm.

A Principal of a private CBSE school told this newspaper that even the teacher’s manual and workbook for the students have been made available online. “We need not bother about the text books or teaching manuals. We can get everything now online. Even the parents can now access these learning materials easily. This is an ideal example for how ICT can be used to make learning experience more effective,” the Principal added.

On the other hand DPI officials claim that currently only Std X text books of state syllabus were available online. “We are still struggling to finalise the core syllabus. At every stage of decision making, opinions of few vested interests are imposed. Karnataka had pioneered the implementation of ICT in education, but sadly we are now lagging behind CBSE,” said an senior officer.

According to the academicians the need of the hour is making the DPI more tech savvy. “Launching the textbooks online or introducing a learning app is not a big task. But our education department is running out of ideas and is stuck in controversies. There is a need to adopt the strategies followed by other boards to make the state syllabus relevant,” said Shrikanth M. Bhat, a researcher.

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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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