II PU students need to study entire textbook
This would mean that the March/April 2016 exams and the subsequent CET would have questions from the entire textbook and not from the blow up syllabus.
Surprisingly, the circular was issued by
Advantages
'With the entire NCERT 8syllabus to be taught from this year, it has opened up the debate on the pros and cons of prescribing the whole syllabus.
According to PU officials, the entire NCERT syllabus is necessary to improve the standard of the teaching. Every year state students are unable to compete with peers in national level exams. Primary and secondary education minister Kimmane Ratnakar has also voiced his support for the project and approved it.
Disadvantages
According to a PU lecturer, the order was issued without consulting the lecturers.
“It is already August-end and we have been now asked to shift from blow-up syllabus to the full syllabus. As the former director was very keen on issuing this order, she did it at the last minute before being transferred. May be now, we have knock the doors of the new director,” the lecturer said.
Speaking to Mirror, Karnataka State PU College Lecturers’ Association president Thimmaiah Purle said they will follow the diktat but the government will have to take the blame for the consequences of the decision.
“First, we need to remove the misconception that blow up syllabus is weak and NCERT syllabus is strong. We had created the blow up syllabus as there was too much of repetition in the NCERT books. We had a meeting with Gobole on July 25 and said that we were not ready though she insisted the same. Now, with the official order out, we have no option but to follow the diktat. However, I just want to add that if there are any consequences (read poor results), then it is the government which is to be blamed,” he said.
About blow-up syllabus
The PU department introduced NCERT textbooks for the academic year 2012-13 for II PU students, a drastic shift for students who were till then studying the state syllabi.
The novel move faced its first hurdle with the PU department instead of preparing textbooks as per the revised syllabi adopted the NCERT textbooks.
The students were given the textbooks and teachers were assigned the syllabi to teach. However, confusion arose as the syllabi didn’t match the NCERT textbooks.
For example, a physics chapter on semiconductor electronics gives in detail about integrated circuits while the same was absent in the syllabi.
The differences were noticed when the PU officials were planning for a TV programme to coach CET students. The lecturer wanted to know whether they need to follow the textbook or the syllabi.
On December 23, 2013, the PU department issued a circular stating that a blow-up syllabus has been prepared and the lecturers and students need to follow the same.
(The blow-up syllabus was formed after an expert committee was formed. This committee came up with new syllabi called the blow-up syllabi).
Since December last year, the faculty has been teaching as per the blow-up syllabi (even for the fresh batch of students who got admitted to the second year PU in June/July this year).
However, on December 31, 2014, the PU department issued a fresh circular stating that students need not restrict themselves to the blow-up syllabi but prepare from the entire textbooks.
However, this created uproar in the teaching community and the PU department quickly withdrew the order.
As reported in Mirror (PU classes began, lecturers in dark about syllabus- Jul 12, 2015), the second year PU classes began with lecturers and students (science stream) clueless as to which portions they needed to study!
