Shillong: The Meghalaya Board of School Education is discussing the idea of making Maths a compulsory subject.
About 40 principals from different secondary and higher secondary schools in Shillong attended a meeting on Friday convened by Education Minister Rakkam Sangma.
The meeting discussed issues like making mathematics compulsory again, a change in textbooks and improving the syllabus. Principals had raised concerns about the learning outcome and have suggested the change of some textbooks so that they are at par with national standards.
“Many teachers are of the opinion of making Mathematics compulsory but as of now, the government is yet to decide. But in due course of time we will reexamine and look into suggestions made by the principals,” said the education minister.
Regarding textbooks, teachers believe the current set-up and the contents are too lengthy, which reduces learning. He added that there are some schools which are not using the books prescribed by MBoSE.
The Textbook Revision Committee will meet on October 31 to listen to the recommendations. The committee will also hear from the Directorate of Educational Research and Training (DERT) since they have been researching for the last 6-7 months. DERT has been meeting and consulting experts academicians and several others concerned to understand the lacuna.
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“As of today, the subjects in MBoSE give the option of best five out of six subjects to clear the exams. So many students tend to opt out of maths. We have asked DERT to also research before this option was given and now how many perform well in maths and how many fail in this subject,” said Sangma.
“Everyone wants comfort and easy subjects. If maths is made optional many students will opt out of it which is certain. In this generation going to higher studies without maths will be difficult,” he added.
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