PSEB English syllabus revised, move evokes mixed response

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 17

Due to the parallel curriculum of Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab project, the teachers were struggling to cope with the lengthy syllabus and demanded to reduce syllabus of English. However, on Thursday, the PSEB sent a PDF through mail, in which it was revealed that the syllabus for English had been reduced from classes VI to X..

Anita Verma, an English teacher said, “The syllabus was lengthy, including the worksheet, grammar book, literature and state project. There are so many activities under Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab that we had no time left for the syllabus. When the teachers were called for the training, it was reiterated to reduce the syllabus. Children after knowing the decision will be really happy.”

This year, translation and re-translation (Punjabi to English and vice-versa) has also been reintroduced by the board. Earlier, the teachers laid protests when the translation and re-translation were removed from the syllabus.

“To understand a foreign language, the importance for mother tongue cannot be ignored. It is a welcome step that these have been added again but the students suffered a lot because of this. The revised curriculum has been introduced in the mid of the academic session. Teachers have already taught some of the lessons that have been deleted,” said Daljit Singh, an English teacher.

A bi-monthly syllabus was issued by State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) at the beginning of the session wherein the syllabus was distributed monthly. Teachers say that some chapters have already been covered as per the syllabus. A new bi-monthly syllabus has been formulated by the SCERT after making changes in the syllabus.

Singh further added, “They introduced bi-monthly syllabus at the beginning of the session and now they have introduced revised syllabus at the wrong time. The hitch is that the burden has not been reduced but rather increased for this session.”

“The changes were introduced in the syllabus after we got feedback from the field that the syllabus was lengthy and children were not comfortable with it . Translation and re-translation have been introduced in the syllabus and some stories have been dropped,” said a PSEB official.

“As there were so many activities in the Padho Punjab project, we were finding it difficult to manage syllabus with the additional curriculum. It will be really helpful for teachers and students,” said Jaspinder Kaur, an English teacher.