The state government will soon take a call on whether to make mathematics a compulsory subject in school education.
This decision was taken after majority have expressed the need to make mathematics as a compulsory subject during a meeting convened by the state education minister Rakkam A Sangma and Principals of over 30-40 secondary and higher secondary schools at the Secretariat on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said that many of the principals have raised concerns on the learning outcome and they have suggested the change of some textbooks to bring them at par with the national standard.
“Many are of the opinion to make mathematics compulsory but as of now, the government is yet to decide on this. We will examine the opinions and suggestions made by the principals,” he said while adding “I also personally feel and many academicians and principals also suggested that mathematics should not be made an optional paper…as of now it is best of five out of six (subjects). Therefore, the government will take a decision in due process.”
To a question, the education minister said that 90% of the students would opt out of mathematics.
“If we allow it, everybody wants to be in an easy and comfortable zone. To me personally, if we allow mathematics to be an optional paper, many students will opt out of it, that is for certain and that is for sure but today at this generation, going for higher studies without mathematics is something that is not appreciable but I think we are second to nobody, we can prepare well, we have the same brain with the rest of the globe and I think it is some we should decide and review,” he said.
Sangma further informed that the department has asked the Directorate of Educational Research and Training (DERT) to do a research on the performance of the students before making mathematics an optional paper.
“(We want to know) how many students performed well in mathematics (before making it optional) and how many students have opted out of mathematics. All these we will get the data and we have requested the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) and DERT to give us detailed data so that we can better information and better understanding on this matter,” he said.
Further, the minister informed that the principals attending the meeting also pointed out that the present existing textbooks are too lengthy, many things to read and so the learning outcome is very less.
In this regard, the textbook revision committee will be sitting on October 31 to discuss the issue.
He said the DERT will also submit its recommendations and proposals before the committee.
“The DERT has been doing the exercise for the last six-seven months. They are consulting the experts, academicians and students, so we will see what they will recommend,” Sangma said while adding that the DERT will present comparative studies being carried out and its recommendations.
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