From 2017-18, no ‘easy math’ for state board schools

MUMBAI: From the academic year 2017-18, the state school education department will scrap the easy math or general mathematics option — a less difficult paper than the regular course — for students in Class 9, and a year after that, for Class 10.

Instead, all students will compulsorily take the regular math course that the department is revamping to suit multiple intelligences in the classroom.

Easy math was introduced by the Maharashtra state board in 2011 for students weak in math, in order to improve the pass rate of the subject. There was only one catch. Students choosing easy math would not be able to take admissions in the science stream in Class 11 or to industrial training institutes ( ITIS).

A review done by the department found most students taking the subject were unaware of this clause or regretted it later.

“At 13, it is unfair to ask children to take a subject that will close career avenues such as engineering for them,” said Prachi Sathe, special officer, education department.

This also reduced the number of students opting for this subject. Of 17 lakh students appearing for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam every year, only 1.15 lakh students pur sued easy math.

“It’s tough because schools have to hold separate classes and exams for a small group of stu dents,” said Sathe.

Sathe said Vinod Tawde, the education minister, is in the process of drawing up a plan to revise the regular math syllabus “The minister’s plan is to incor porate both easy and tough ques tions into the subject and design the question paper in such a way that all students can answer it,” said Sathe.

School principals, however are upset with the decision to keep only one math subject for all students. “Students with learning disabilities were taking up easy math as they found regu lar math difficult. Now what option will they have? The department should have con sulted with all schools before taking the decision,” said Suresh Nair, principal, Vivek Vidyal aya, Goregaon.

But academicians lauded the decision saying easy math was redundant. “Even easy math was actually not that easy. It was doing more harm than good,” said Vasant Kalpande, former chairman of the Maharashtra state board.