Bombay HC to boards: Can Maths be optional?

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked officials of various boards whether mathematics could be made an optional subject, as it is a deterrent for many regular children from clearing exams.

The court also said that apart from mathematics, the language subject is a deterrent for normal children and observed that due to these subjects students dropped out of school and did not pursue graduation. The observations were made while hearing a petition on plight of students with learning disabilities that was filled by psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty.

The HC also asked the boards to submit data of learning disability students with them from the past 10 years and mention the steps taken by them to assist such students in the next hearing.   

A division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice A.K. Menon was hearing the petition, which sought directions to various boards to take steps to assist students with learning disabilities to cope with their studies.

According to him, while the state board had taken some steps to address the problems of students with learning disabilities, other boards like the CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and IB also need to take certain steps to make learning easy for affected students.

In an earlier hearing, the court had directed the boards to instruct affiliated schools to screen students discretely and spot specific learning disabilities at an early stage so that remedial measures could be taken. On Monday, taking the earlier instructions forward, the bench said, “Nearly 90 per cent of the school dropouts do so as they are unable to pass the mathematics and language subject exams. As these subjects are not required for degree courses, if an option is given to them, it may even encourage them to complete graduation.” The court directed the non-state boards to confer with experts and reply as to whether the subjects could be made optional by July 26.