Dropouts and relevance of school curriculum

- S. MUTHUKUMARAN
It may be worthwhile to introduce two or three levels of exams and not to insist on minimum marks in all subjects


-In an ideal school system there will be no dropouts and no one will be declared as a failure. A student may drop out due to economic or academic reasons. The economic reasons can be tackled through appropriate measures such as waiver of tuition fees, providing free textbooks, uniforms, free meals, etc. Such measures are in force in Tamil Nadu as well as in several other States though the details may vary from State to State.


The academic reasons may be irrelevance of the syllabi, poor teaching, etc. There are attempts at training and retraining of teachers to improve the teaching-learning process. The question of relevance is discussed in the following:


The Kothari Commission (1964-66) recommended adoption of 10+2+3 scheme of education with a single programme of study for all students up to the 10th standard. This recommendation was deliberated upon for several years and accepted by all States and implemented.


It is known from psychological studies on children that every child exhibits its individuality by the time it is 10 or 12 years old i.e. by the time the child is in the 5th or 6th or 7th standard it shows its likes and dislikes. This aspect was taken care of in the earlier scheme of 11 years of schooling by providing scope for branching off at the 8th or 9th or 10th standard, equivalent to the present 7th or 8th or 9th standard.


The argument for a common school system up to the 10th is that the child of 10 or 12 years will not be mature enough to really choose the appropriate branch of study. Therefore there is a need to give sufficient time for the child to identify its own choices for higher studies or training.
The school syllabus may be broadly grouped as those areas of knowledge that are essential for developing the individual as a good citizen and those required to learn a profession or a vocation. In the first five years of schooling the syllabi may almost entirely fall under the first group.
In the next five years of schooling about two thirds of the present syllabi may fall under the second group. As all the students are undergoing the same syllabi which may be covering the needs of all types of students, the syllabi content may be comprehensive but may not be student specific i.e. some parts of the syllabi may not be relevant to some students. Evaluation
Therefore there is no need to insist that every child should pass in all subjects. However, it is necessary that every child successfully completes the schooling. This dichotomy may be resolved by the provision of two or three levels of evaluation. The child may choose any one of these levels. It may be helped by the parents, the class teacher and school advisor, if any, to choose the level based upon its abilities, needs and aspirations.


When a child completes ten years of schooling, the data provided by the school system on the performance of the student in each of the ten years and the levels of achievement in each subject will provide all the necessary information about the interests, abilities, traits and suitability for the particular higher course or training which the individual may aspire to pursue.


To conclude, the experience gained in the implementation of a single programme of study with no branching or optional up to the 10th standard has brought out the following: the present system may have to be continued so that every child is exposed to the full range of subjects and areas of training. But over the years, the load has become very heavy and to some extent partly irrelevant leading to failures and dropouts.


Therefore there is a need for rethinking on the scheme of evaluation. It may be worthwhile to introduce two or three levels of examinations and not insisting on any minimum marks in all the subjects of study. The criteria may be that the student passes all the subjects at the lowest level of examination and at least a certain specified number of subjects at the higher levels.