Centre plans an all-in-one course for students

Now you can blend arts with science.Pre-university and degree students soon will be able to take arts, science and commerce subjects together in one integrated course if a proposal of the Central Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry is implemented.The Union HRD ministry recently set up a committee to study the feasibility of introducing such a plan under the proposed ‘multi-subject learning’ system. Officials from the state primary and secondary education department, who are on the Central committee, told DNA that the intention of introducing such a course was to encourage multi-dimensional learning to attract more students.“The proposal involves allowing students to take multiple subjects from three different streams, like studying physics, economics and optional Kannada together as a combination. It is still in a discussion stage and the committee has to submit the report,” said an official on the committee. Incidentally, the multi-subject learning system already exists in boards such as CBSE and ICSE, but it needs to be implemented in state boards, he said.“As yet, there is no clear picture about which level this needs to be implemented. There are suggestions to introduce it at class 12 level, and also at the undergraduate level. This will be discussed in the committee meeting,” said the official, on condition of anonymity.

The committee is headed by SC Kunthiya, joint secretary, School Education department (Central), which includes 10 other experts, including CBSE chairman Vineeth Joshi and the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) joint director.Interestingly, high-level officials of the state primary and secondary education department have no idea of this Central proposal.