Teachers moot semester system at higher secondary level

After release of the new syllabus for Plus One, there is a line of thought among school heads and higher secondary teachers that instead of two public examinations, the Government must explore scope for introducing semester system in the interests of the student community.

The reasoning put forth by the school heads was that the teachers will otherwise have less time for completing the portions.

Teachers say as much as 90% of the new syllabus for all subjects under Samacheer Kalvi have been derived from books published by NCERT (National Council of Education Research and Training) and the rest from ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) and IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) portions.

There will henceforth be parity in contents, more so owing to the inclusion of multiple choice questions at the back of the textbooks that warrant analytical thinking so as to prepare students for NEET, JEE and other competitive exams, according to Thiruchelvam, a higher secondary teacher handling Physics. Hitherto, the questions were confined only to the contents, he said.

“However, if the delivery mechanism is attuned to preparing the students for entrance examinations, there will be very less time left for completing the portions justifiably for the two public examinations. The students under Samacheer Kalvi will again be denied any level-playing field, since there is no public exam for Plus One under CBSE stream”, Thangavel, a teacher handling Zoology said.

There is a definite advantage in the semester system since the students will be obviated of the burden of repetitive study of contents, a headmaster of a government higher secondary school said. According to Education department officials, any new system will require some time for smooth implementation. The new syllabus has been introduced with the intention of creating a level-playing field for State Board students, and there was a need for teachers and students to adopt new time-management strategies, an official said.

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