Kerala school curriculum revised after a decade; new textbooks from next year

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has initiated measures to introduce new textbooks in schools that are following the state syllabus. The move is part of a curriculum revamp taking place after 10 years, and 56 new textbooks will be prepared for Classes 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 in the next academic year of 2024–25. The new textbooks for Classes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 will be introduced only in 2025–26.

As part of the initiative, the authorities have set up a team of 900 teachers to prepare the new textbooks. While 350 of these teachers were selected by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) based on a test, the rest were either involved in textbook writing earlier or are college teachers experts in their subjects.

"Four workshops, each lasting four days, will be conducted for the preparation of the new textbooks. Each book will be written by a team of 12 teachers," said SCERT director Dr R K Jayaprakash.

Even though the authorities had planned to start the work on the textbooks in May this year, a delay of three months occurred as the draft framework of the new curriculum was not finalised. "We will now complete the work on the new textbooks in September," said Jayaprakash.

The draft framework of the curriculum was finalised after extensive discussions with representatives of various sections of society as well as schools.