No change in Plus Two syllabus in Odisha this year

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 8: 

The Higher Education department has decided not to introduce the new syllabus for the Plus Two streams in Odisha this year due to lack of proper coordination between the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) and Odisha State Bureau of Text Book Preparation and Production (OSBTPP).

As part of its effort to bring about necessary reforms in the Plus Two curriculum to enable students from the state to compete at all India level examinations, the Higher Education department had formed a fact-finding team in March this year to suggest reforms in the Arts, Science and Commerce streams.

Though the committee had submitted its report on the change of syllabus in these three streams, the department has not able to finalise it. As a result, college authorities have provided old syllabus to the students whose classes have already started.

Since it was not possible to change the syllabus in all 31 subjects in Arts, Science and Commerce in one go, the Council had decided to go for a change only in the Science curriculum from the current academic year.

The CHSE, which was scheduled to upload the new Science syllabus on its website on August 10, has, in the meanwhile, received the directive of the Higher Education minister Pradip Kumar Panigrahi to put the new syllabus on hold this year and introduce it simultaneously with the new syllabuses of Arts and Commerce from the next academic session.

A senior official of the Higher Education department said the OSBTPP, in a letter to the department, has said it has already published several Plus Two Science books for the current academic session as per the old syllabus and sold books worth Rs 1.25 crore. While the self-financing colleges have purchased several books, the Bureau has stocks of these books worth about Rs 80 lakh. Hence, in such circumstances if the syllabuses are changed, the Bureau will incur huge losses.

As per rules, syllabuses are changed every three years, said Gitika Patnaik, director, OSBTPP.

“The Bureau receives the new syllabuses, which are prepared as per the recommendation of the syllabus committee formed by the CHSE. On the basis of the new syllabuses, books are published. But till now, the Bureau has not received new syllabuses from the Council,” she added.