CBSE kids to have say in syllabus

NEW DELHI: Come 2014, a section of CBSE students may well be following a syllabus evaluated by their seniors.

India’s largest school board is handpicking toppers in this year’s class 12 board exams to help formulate the curriculum for classes 11 and 12 across all subjects and streams. Students entering class 11 in 2014 will be the first users of this curriculum.

“The idea is to get student feedback on what they find relevant and what they find difficult,” a senior CBSE official said.

The Central Board of Secondary Education covers over 12,300 schools across

THE CBSE COVERS OVER 12,300 SCHOOLS ACROSS INDIA AND IN A FEW COUNTRIES ABROAD

India and in a few countries abroad. This is its latest initiative over the past three years to reform a schooling system that educationists have warned could fall behind globally-successful practices.

The selected students will sit with representatives — teachers and subject experts — of Kendriya Vidyalayas, other government schools, private schools and the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on subjectspecific committees. The CBSE appoints such committees to review syllabi for all subjects every three years. It has never before included students.

The panels decide on new material to add and segments to remove. But the students will also help decide whether NCERT textbooks are outdated and need supplementary content till they are revised and published again.