The State Council for Educational Research & Training (SCERT), Maharashtra, has moved a proposal to make English an optional “other foreign language” for the students of Junior College. The proposal may also allow students to learn subjects from a mix of traditional streams of arts, science and commerce.
The SCERT made a draft of the State Curriculum Framework (SCF) for School Education public on Wednesday to invite opinions from various stakeholders.
Although the English language has been made non-compulsory, it continues to be a mandatory subject for the earlier classes or those from grade third to the tenth. The proposal will only apply to standard 11th and 12th students, if approved.
Under the new proposed framework, students will have to select at least one of the two languages native to India. The second can be from the “other foreign language” category or entirely ignore “other foreign language” for a native one.
The list of native languages include Marathi, Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannad, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Sindhi, Bengali, Punjabi, Pali, Ardhamagadhi, Marashtri Prakrut and Avesta-Pahalvi. Nine languages, namely, English, German, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Persian and Arabic, fall under the non-native or foreign category.
In all, each student of Junior College will have eight subjects as part of their syllabus – two languages, four subjects of their choice and mandatory environmental studies and physical education. The four subjects of choice could be a mix of traditional commerce, arts and science streams and not necessarily from the traditional stream that a student opts for. This is in line with National Education Policy.
The draft has also proposes including ‘Indian Knowledge System’ such as yoga, astronomy, dancing, kathak, oddissi, etc. as part of the formal education system.
