Students in Rajasthan are in for a change in the next academic session with a colour makeover for uniforms, use of digital technology and star ratings but it is the past which will be in focus with inclusion of references to 200 historical personalities in the syllabus.
"The government is pushing digital technology to reform the education sector. Syllabus has been revised and upgraded whereas the students will be clad in new uniforms in the new session which will boost their confidence," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vasudev Devnani said recently.
The government is introducing new uniforms in government schools from the 2017-18 academic session, Devnani said. The light brown coloured uniforms will replace the existing khaki and blue uniforms.
Though the government has initiated a lot of changes its focus seems to be on history. The Vasundhara Raje government has decided to revise the history syllabus in school text books while including references to more than 200 historical personalities.
However, the details of the leaders whose names have been included in the revised history syllabus are not yet known.
Speaking on the change in history textbooks, the minister said the "slave mentality did not allow some books on history to come out and now it is time for students to learn about the glorious history.
"Rajasthan has a glorious history. We need to rise above the slave mentality and to connect students with historic truths. Post Independence, several history books were not allowed to come out just because of the slave mentality," the minister said.
He said "references to more than 200 great personalities have been included in the school syllabus and appropriate space has been given to every religion and sect".
A new chapter will also be included on demonetisation and digital economy in the Class XII textbook of economics from the new session.
Meghna Chaudhary, Secretary of the Board of Secondary Education Ajmer, said recently that the decision was taken in view of the government giving a push to cashless economy.
She said that the revised text books will be available in the next academic session.
The government has also decided to grant star ratings to
schools based on different criteria including attendance, result and cleanliness among others. Besides, use of digital technology for monitoring of schools is also being pushed by the government.
Through a portal, the government has made available official information and data pertaining to government schools.
"Details about the number of schools, students, teachers, student-teacher ratio in the schools have been provided online. One can search the details school-wise," another official of the education department said.
Name and contact numbers of the principals of the schools, number of classrooms in schools, toilets, play grounds and other facilities have been listed on the website.
Class IX girl students in government schools will get orange coloured cycles, instead of black in the upcoming session for which the government has already issued supply orders.
The opposition Congress has targeted the BJP for allegedly saffronising education.
"The government is doing nothing but saffronising education. In Congress rule, the focus was on NCERT books but the BJP is carrying out its agenda only," former education minister Bhanwar Lal charged.
Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi also targeted the government for change in syllabus and distribution of orange coloured cycles to girls.
In Rajasthan, as many as 36,48,994 students are enrolled in 50,993 government schools and there are 1,49,381 teachers in the state.
