The common syllabus is not up to standard and lacks in the following:The content is not age-appropriate. This has resulted in overloading of content in certain standards and less coverage in others. The cognitive abilities and comprehension levels have been ignored, especially with regard to treatment of topics in Science.It has been organised around abstract concepts without giving importance to key themes in any subject area. This would result in killing the enthusiasm in students to develop a passion for learning with understanding.It is a deviation from the norms prescribed by the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 with respect to the subjects to be taught in the primary and upper primary stage. This would not only result in overburdening the child but also not help the child to experience the joy of learning.It has omitted to incorporate life skills/survival skills. In today’s world, it is very important for children to be taught necessary skills from a very early age.Analytical thinking has been neglected. It has no scope for extended activity, which would provide for opportunities to acquire the analytical skills. Without analytical thinking the student wouldn’t be in a position to apply the content in real life situations.The development of common syllabus keeping Higher Board as a model cannot be done without giving sufficient time to have a smooth transition. The common syllabus envisages to pull the students of government and government-aided schools to that of the Matriculation Board abruptly. Such a shift to a higher level would burden the students and would result in confusion and anxiety in their minds. The syllabus lacks in gradation. So, it does not enable the students to move from one class to the other smoothly. It lacks in interdisciplinary relationship among concepts in a subject and across subjects, thereby preventing a clear gradation. There is no attempt to link topics. Disruption of this link leads to incomprehension and hence results in rote memorisation, defeating the purpose of providing quality education.The common syllabus has been prepared with the misconception that every discipline is a separate entity. However, an interdisciplinary approach is what will help the students to understand concepts in their true sense.The common syllabus has been framed in a hurried manner without taking into account the basic requirements of formulating a good curriculum. There is neglect of age appropriate learning, inter disciplinary learning and practical learning. The common syllabus does not provide for the child to apply his or her analytical skills, extra textual reading which are essential components for the children of the state to equip themselves to compete at National and International level. Hence, the committee is of the firm view that the syllabus has to be revisited and reviewed as per the norms of NCF,2005, Central Act.The Samacheer Kalvi textbooks have many shortcomings:They do not go beyond providing just factual information. Consequently, the books promote mere rote-learning rather than understanding.There are more subjects than required at the primary level. The NCF has recommended that in Classes I and II, only Language and Mathematics should be introduced and in Classes III, IV and V one additional subject - namely Environmental Sciences (EVS) - is to be additionally introduced. On the contrary, the Samacheer Kalvi has four subjects in Classes I and II and five subjects in classes III to V. This would definitely overburden the children at a very tender age.The Samacheer Kalvi textbook places the content of every subject in a water- tight compartment, thereby not providing for any inter disciplinary approach. Students would be able to use their subject knowledge practically only if they are able to understand the relationship between different subjects.The textbooks have many factual errors which would hinder the students from understanding the correct meaning of the content and would create ambiguity and confusion in their minds.There is an increased burden of learning on the students of classes in Government and Government aided schools. In fact, many of the terms used in the lessons may not make any sense to students in rural areas unless the teacher is able to explain with understandable examples.The Samacheer Kalvi textbook has no reference to life skills, problem solving skills, negotiation skills, communication skills, inter-personal relationship, etc. The purpose of inculcating strategic skills/life skills and values at a very young age is to help the student face challenges in future.The textbooks are not designed to encourage the thinking process of the student as they do not provide for apt exercises and activities adequate enough to test the understanding of the concepts. Lack of practical exercises prevents the child from understanding the topic in depth and results in non-application of mind and lack of analytical thinking. This ultimately prevents them from exploring new ideas and concepts. Textbooks act as tools to translate the content of the syllabus into effective learning material. In the Samacheer Kalvi textbook, the translation of such syllabus into textbooks has been done inappropriately this would definitely affect the student in building knowledge, thereby creating conceptual confusion.The Samacheer Kalvi textbooks for the English medium is a mere literal translation from Tamil to English, due to which many grammatical errors and textual errors have crept in to almost all the lessons in all the classes. The list of howlers is exhaustive and it is unpardonable to provide such substandard textbooks to the students.A textbook should be free of objectionable element which may provoke the students in controversial issues. In the Samacheer Kalvi textbooks, in a few places, unwanted and objectionable materials have been incorporated.The textbooks are much heavier as compared to the earlier ones, thereby increasing the burden of the children. This goes against the philosophy of ‘Learning without Burden’.The textbooks do not provide any note for the teachers and as they have not been trained to teach the newly-designed common syllabus in the Samacheer Kalvi textbooks, the right concepts and information may not be passed on to the students.The Samacheer Kalvi textbooks are not sufficiently constructivist in nature. They do not nudge the child towards constructing his/her own understanding of a concept or process from the evidence or activities provided in the books. Constructivist textbooks are not information-centred. They focus much more on the process through which any body of knowledge is constructed. They seek to introduce the child to a way of thinking rather than to given facts or formulae. In Mathematics, for instance, such books should take the child beyond mere calculation to mathematisation as a more generic ability. In Science and Social Sciences, they ought to raise problems for analysis (eg: why do puris puff up in oil and not in water?/ Why and how did the Indian National Movement become an All India mass movement during the period 1919-1922?) and encourage the child to think logically, sequentially, laterally and in an interconnected manner. In languages, they should encourage the ‘whole-language’ approach. The textbooks need to address these issues.
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