This year, around 89,000 class X students failed in English in exams held by the PSEB. (Express Archives)
In a bid to improve results in schools in the state, the Punjab school Education Board (PSEB) has hit upon a novel idea – it has identified English as the chief villain and has drastically reduced its syllabus from class 6th to 10th, by as much as nearly 40% in class 10th.
The reduction in syllabus comes in the middle of the current academic session, which began in April this year. The next examination in March next year will be held as per the new syllabus, education officials said.
English, along with social studies (SS), are the subjects in which the students in the state have been failing the most. In Punjab, education officials often refer to English as “Waterloo” even for students who are otherwise better in other subjects. And a student failing in English means he has failed in the class.
For long, teachers too have been demanding reduction in English syllabus, saying it was too vast and that it was difficult to complete it in around 200 days on which classes are held in an academic year.
According to the new English syllabus for class 10th, there are 14 chapters against 24 chapters earlier. The number of letters (business, official and personal) to be written by students has also been cut from 47 to 31 now.
Vijay Kumar, an English teacher at the government high school at Lallian Kalan in Jalandhar, said the English syllabus of PSEB was much more vast than in other boards like CBSE, which left no time for revision. “We have been demanding for long to review since it was affecting the overall results of class 10th in board exams,” he said.
“During various teachers’ training programmes, we had raised the matter before Krishan Kumar, Punjab’s Education Secretary, who went through the syllabus and agreed it was creating unnecessary burden on students and leading to their poor grasp of the subject,” said Chander Shekhar, an English teacher and district mentor of English and SS under Parho Punjab project.
Shekhar said the current syllabus, which was being taught in Punjab for the past over a decade, had several chapters which had no theme, apart from putting the burden on students who used to lose interest in the subject.
This year, around 89,000 class X students failed in English under the PSEB.
State’s Education Minister O P Soni, when contacted, said their main focus was on the quality and better understanding of things and “extra burden hurt both these parameters”.