Government plans common curriculum for science, maths

There could soon be a common curriculum for science and mathematics in schools across the country, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandeswari said today.

“We are contemplating such an idea where all the schools would have the same curriculum at least in subjects like science, mathematics and commerce. The idea has been agreed in principle by the council of all the State education departments and we are expecting this to be implemented by 2013,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Education for Sustainable Development Future of Education in India, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here.

 

Though implementing a core curriculum for subjects like social sciences would have several issues to be considered, subjects such as science and mathematics, which have same implications nationally, should be brought under a single curriculum.

However, she added that the success of implementation depended upon the support of state governments, since almost one million schools are run under the control of the states, compared to only 11,000 operative under the Central Board of Secondary Education.

“The central government has ambitious plans to allocate six per cent of the public expenditure for education, and this is not possible without the support of state governments,” she said in her address to industry and institutions as the chief guest of the meeting.

The government’s current allocation on education is 3.8 per cent of the public expenditure.

“The government and industry should work together to make quality education affordable and accessible. The government is bringing in a slew of regulatory Bills including the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill and Foreign Universities Bill.