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| Edited By: Mihika Basu |Source: DNA |Updated: Aug 01, 2010, 01:31 AM IST
After advocating a common ‘core curriculum’ for science and mathematics across school boards at the higher secondary level, human resource and development minister Kapil Sibal now wants to do the same in the commerce stream.
Starting from the academic year 2011-12, science and mathematics is expected to have a core curriculum across various boards, a decision taken by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE), an apex body of all state and private school boards. Commerce is next on the agenda. “The aim is to give students a level playing field and help them compete on an equal footing at national-level entrance tests,” said an
academician.
In Mumbai on Saturday to inaugurate the Indo-US Education Council during the Indo-US Summit on Higher Education, Sibal said his ministry is also creating a national vocational education framework to enable the introduction of a vast range of courses with a local connect. “Around 220 million go to school in India and of them, only around 14 million reach college. No economy can sustain with such numbers. We need to empower the remaining 200 million by creating opportunities,” he said.
Sibal added that institutes must make education more democratic by offering students varied options, such
as studying music and maths together.
“The vocational education framework has to be a decentralised plan and states must identify vocational courses. Standards will be set at the national level. It can then be linked to community colleges,” he explained.
The minister also feels Indians going abroad to study is not a sound economic model. “India has many bright minds who cannot afford to go to the US. So you are leaving out a vast majority who are qualified but have no access to higher education. It’s better to move investment towards human resource rather than moving the human resource to the investment. It’s happened in the manufacturing sector where production houses have moved to China for a better output on the dollar. It’s happened in the service sector and education will be next,” said Sibal.
