The Tamil Nadu government has released the much-awaited reduction in Class 10th and 12th syllabus on Sunday with about a third of the lessons been made optional.
The School Education Minister had, in October 2020, announced that about 40 percent of the total syllabus will be slashed. The State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) was asked to carefully select a priority syllabus – based on which the public exam question papers will be set.
The syllabus has now been divided into compulsory and optional parts. Students can avoid studying the optional parts while preparing for public exams. “We have excluded a particular portion out of many chapters instead completely slashing out a third of the chapters in each subject. This way students will at least have a broad understanding of most topics,” an official from the school education department.
Schools across the country have been shut down since March owing to the lockdown. As classes continue to be held online and on other broadcast platforms, schools struggled to meet deadlines on the curriculum. Teachers from both government and private schools insisted on the syllabus being reduced for this academic year. There was however a delay in releasing the revised syllabus as the date of school reopening was not finalised.
The government has permitted in-person classes for students in Class 10 and 12 from Tuesday. The list of priority lessons has been sent to all Chief Educational Officers who will subsequently send it to school principals.
