Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government may implement the ‘Focus Area’ scheme on the lines of the NCERT model as part of efforts to reduce the Higher Secondary syllabus.
The ‘Focus Area’ system refers to setting a fixed percentage of the total portion to be studied and preparing question papers based only on this. The authorities are considering implementing the method instead of slashing the syllabus as it’s months since the classes for the academic year started.
An official decision in this regard will be out soon. The Government is considering the method based on the recommendation of the SCERT (State Council of Education, Research and Training).
In its efforts to ease the overburden of students, the NCERT earlier reduced up to 25 percent of portions of all subjects in the syllabus, citing that the same are repetitions and unimportant.
Kerala may reduce the portions in ‘Science’ subjects in the same proportion while implementing the Focus Area scheme. However, the authorities are not in favour of reducing so many portions when it comes to Social Science subjects like History, Sociology, and Political Science. The move is to exclude only 10 % of portions from the exams.
The State Government thinks that the Centre’s suggestion to slash these many portions arises out of its “politically motivated vested interests”.
From the next academic year onwards, the syllabus will be slashed at the time of the commencement of the classes itself.