Central government’s long-term plans of having a uniform Science and Mathematics curriculum across all boards will soon be a reality now, as all state boards have agreed to follow the same National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum for the two subjects from Classes 9 to 12.
Having a uniform syllabus for these subjects is something that the Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister during UPA government — Kapil Sibal — had also been rooting for. He had proposed the idea, but also added that it will be a “Herculean task” to make it happen.
Under the current HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, the idea is set to become a reality, as all the 32 boards including state boards, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) have agreed to adopt a uniform syllabus.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the Boards along with the Secretary School Education, HRD Ministry on Monday. “All the boards have agreed to use the NCERT curriculum especially for Mathematics and Science subjects. This will make way for a uniform syllabus in schools across the country, making it easy for students from all boards to crack competitive examinations,” said a senior ministry official.
Most of the medical and engineering entrance exam papers carry questions that are in the NCERT syllabus, which makes students from state boards, who do not follow the curriculum, lose out. “If students who come from boards that do not follow NCERT syllabus have to take competitive exams then they have to study two different curricula, one to pass the board exams and other to crack the competitive tests. We want to bring a solution to this problem, and hence we had asked all boards to follow uniform syllabus,” the official added.
