TN School Syllabus To Be Prioritized Without Compromising On The Learning Outcomes

As the schools in Tamil Nadu could not be opened in June and in view of academic loss, the syllabus from Class one to Class XII will be prioritized for the first time without compromising the coverage of all the learning outcomes.

Accordingly, based on the availability of transactional periods in the academic year 2021-2022, the prioritization of syllabus is done for Class one to Class VIII between 50% and 54% and for Classes IX to Class XII between 60% and 65%.

The School Education Department move to prioritize the syllabus came against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in which the schools were not reopened in June for this academic year and considering the gap in the normal classroom transaction, it was practically not possible for the students to cover all the portions designed for the entire year.

A senior official from the School Education Department said "hence State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which decides the school curriculum, has undertaken the exercise of prioritization of syllabus without compromising the coverage of all the learning outcomes".

Stating that Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) would communicate the topics of the prioritized syllabus to schools, the official said the schools were also instructed that the examination will be conducted based on the prioritized curriculum only.

However, the official also said that the students, who were aspiring for any competitive or other examination were advised to prepare themselves as per the syllabus to appear for the test concerned.

Pointing out that the students of the last academic year (2020-2021), who were promoted to the next higher class without having undergone any school-based assessment or board examinations, he said "to mitigate the learning loss of those students, SCERT also developed refresher course module for the students from Class II to Class XII, which covers the basic and important concepts based on critical learning outcomes of the previous classes".

Citing an example, the official said that the refresher course module of Class IX contains the basic concepts pertaining up to Class VII and all the important concepts pertaining to Class VIII.

"It can be covered in 45-50 days time and after completion of this module, an assessment based on the concepts of the refresher course could be conducted and based on the analysis of the assessment, reinforcement can be given wherever it requires", he said adding "and then the concepts pertaining to the current class could be taken by the teachers and thus it will enable the students to attain the required learning outcomes to facilitate the smooth transition from the previous class to current standard".

The official said the CEOs will also ensure to send the soft copy of the refresher course module to all the schools without fail and they were also instructed to monitor the learning process.