PANAJI: The curtailment of syllabus by 30% from classes I to VIII will continue during the current academic year 2021-22 and the State Council For Educational Research and Training (SCERT) will issue a circular in this regard soon, SCERT director Nagaraj Honnekeri said.
The syllabus was curtailed for the last academic year due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
“The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has decided to continue with the curtailed syllabus for the new academic year as well for classes IX to XII.
Therefore, as there should be continuity, we will also be issuing a circular shortly continuing with the 30% cut in the syllabus for 2021-22,” Honnekeri said.
The decision has been taken as the pandemic situation continues to be the same as last year.
“Last year, an exhaustive list was provided to schools of the topics which have been curtailed.
The same will continue this year,” Honnekeri said.
He said that with the pandemic, as classes are being held online, the focus of schools has changed accordingly to ensure that the child has a broad understanding of the topics.
Therefore, the curtailment is seen as reasonable in this situation.
The council had told schools last year to encourage self-study of topics which have been curtailed.
However, the portions are not to be included in the term-end examination to assess students.
The SCERT has also prepared teaching videos which are set to be telecast again with the start of the new academic year through locals TV channels.
It is for the benefit of students who may not have internet connectivity required to attend live teaching sessions.
SCERT had constituted a board of studies from classes I to VIII to identify the topics in the syllabus to curtail, and based on their recommendation, it decided the topics to be kept out.
At the primary school level, the topics curtailed were mainly in language subjects of English, Konkani, Marathi and Urdu, and in environmental studies.