Improve quality, implement it

CHENNAI: Senior educationists on Tuesday demanded that the state government revive Samacheer Kalvi or the Uniform School Education System (USE) in the state, even as they expressed support for the government’s move to form a panel to suggest changes in the system. Educationists also requested the government to reintroduce the rural reservation system for professional courses wherein 25 percent was earmarked for students studying in rural areas in college admission.After its first cabinet meet on Sunday, the newly elected AIADMK government had announced its decision to defer the introduction of Samacheer Kalvi, stating that the system as it were was not drafted to improve the quality of education. USE had been introduced in Class I and VI in 2010-11 and was to be extended from Class I to X this year.  Critical of the government’s decision to do away with the system whose syllabus was framed using educationists, Prof Marx, former college professor, said the quality of books issued under the system was still better than the quality that prevailed before its introduction. Reverting to the old books for Classes I to V would also be against the guidelines of the NCERT, which required new books to be prepared every five years, while these books being considered were published versions in 2000, he added. The previous government’s move to include chapters about its achievement and its leader M Karunanidhi is a condemnable act, noted educationist Dr P Sivakumar, but added that these chapters could have been deleted. The government should also reintroduce 25 per cent rural reservation in professional courses, struck down by a court in 2004.