Lessons on Corona in the offing

Bengaluru: The State Government is said to have taken a decision to cut down academic curriculum (syllabus) in Schools and Colleges for the forthcoming 2020-21 academic year.

As the Coronavirus is spreading its wings across the entire country, educational institutions in the State and the country are unlikely to re-open at least for a couple of months. In this scenario, the Government, which seems to be determined to complete the 2020-21 academic year in accordance with the usual practice, by the end of April-May next year, has decided to cut down 30 percent of the syllabus. The Government has proposed to cut down such lessons which are deemed unnecessary and largely repetitive by experts.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar, who held a meeting  with the Department officials on Thursday, directed the officials to identify those topics which are deemed unnecessary in school curriculum (first to tenth standards) and PUC syllabus. 

Stressing on the need for introducing lessons on Novel Coronavirus, Suresh Kumar directed the officials to incorporate lessons on the deadly virus  at different levels in all classes. It is also necessary that the lessons on the pandemic are made mandatory in syllabus, he added.

Maintaining that it has become necessary to follow physical distancing even in schools and colleges for which modalities are being worked out, he said that this practice may become the norm in the future.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) too is mulling on cutting its academic syllabus by 40 percent.