Mumbai: Parents of medical aspirants in the city who study under the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) want their children’s textbooks to be at par with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). All the competitive examinations after Class 12 are based on Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which falls under NCERT.
The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) or the Class 12 students currently need to study from two sets of textbooks for their board exam and the entrance exam. Parents said that the board should focus on putting state syllabus at par with NCERT as this will lead to a uniform syllabus and single exam pattern for admission to all professional degree courses.
“Last year we had contacted Vinod Tawde who was then medical education minister and he had assured us that a new and revised syllabus will be introduced for the HSC students from 2017, but nothing of that sort happened. Later, Girish Mahajan took over and still there has been no development,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent. She also said, “If not all the subjects, at least Science-based subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths) should be on par with CBSE as these topics are asked in the competitive entrance examinations.”
“One major difference between the HSC textbooks and CBSE is terminology. While HSC is mainly about memorising and writing, CBSE focuses more on understanding and application of concepts,” a parent said.
Ruiee Kapoor, a parent said, “State Board has only one government textbook and they have got no reference material unlike CBSE syllabus which is based on NCERT and reference books. It is formed in a way which makes it easier to be learn rather than mugging up. In the name of child-centered education, it has been made very easy in the past few years. We should have one nation, one syllabus.” Ms Kapoor is an educator, who is teaching in a state board school and her children have passed out from ICSE and CBSE.
