Chennai:
With the former and current Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu at war, it is the students of the state who are bearing the brunt. Most schools in Tamil Nadu are reopening today after summer vacation, but most students will have to go to school without text books for at least three weeks.
The Jayalalithaa government has put on hold the uniform syllabus introduced by the previous DMK regime, saying, it is not of good quality.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to set up an expert committee to "examine ways and means to implement the Uniform System of School Education" in the state.
The state government now says schools will engage children in activity-based learning and a bridge course without text books till the court sorts out the issue in three weeks.
The apex court is hearing a Tamil Nadu government plea against the order of the Madras High Court on June 10 staying the operation of an amendment in the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act to avoid the implementation of the new system in the state.
The new system was brought in by the DMK government and was to have been implemented in the current academic year.
The M Karunanidhi government had last year, through an Act, introduced a common curriculum for all school children till Class X. Before this, the state had schools follow different curriculum under the matriculation system or boards like the state school of secondary education board and the CBSE. The State Board syllabus, considered low in standard, is followed in government run and government aided schools. Matriculation and Anglo-Indian syllabi have an advanced syllabus, preferred by the elite and the upper middle classes.
When the AIADMK government was voted back in May this year, it sought to amend the law and revert to the older curricula.
Crores of books have already been printed to follow the new system. The curriculum includes poems of DMK chief M Karunanidhi and his daughter Kanimozhi.