Students present host of suggestions to Minister on curriculum revision

‘Vidyarthikale parayu’ classroom discussions to know students’ opinions

As the second phase of the ‘No to Drugs’ campaign gets going, Aditya, a Plus Two student of Government Higher Secondary School, Kundamkuzhi, Kasaragod, on Thursday expressed the wish that students be sensitised to the ill-effects of drugs from the primary level itself. For this, chapters that create awareness of hazards of substance abuse should be included in the school curriculum, he said.

Aditya was among the students of the school who spoke about the changes they wanted to see in the school curriculum. Hearing them was Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty who inaugurated Vidyarthikale Parayu, a discussion on school curriculum that for the first time involved participation of students to gather their opinions and suggestions.

D.R. Fidel, another student, wanted chapters that created awareness of the duties and responsibilities of citizens to be included. With an increase in superstitious practices being reported in the State, the science textbook should effectively curb sorcery, witchcraft, and the like.

V. Sneha wanted the number of periods in a day to be reduced and their time increased. Athulya, a Plus Two student, was of the opinion that the higher secondary classes were very crowded and their strength should be brought down to less than 65. Karthik, also a Plus Two student, wanted vocational education to be driven by students’ interests. Theory classes in the morning should be followed by practicals in the areas the students were keen on, he said.

Another Plus Two student wanted chapters to reflect the equality of persons from the transgender community with those from the other two genders.

Class 10 student Sania Rag wanted portions that threw light on guidelines for surviving natural disasters.