Hyderabad: Nearly two and half years after a road map was announced to introduce CBSE curriculum, the Jaganmohan Reddy government signed an agreement with International Baccalaureate (IB) to introduced the American education system in government schools
In February 2021, Jagan announced a road map to introduce CBSE curriculum in all the government schools, beginning with Classes 1 to 7 from 2021-22. But, only 1,096 high schools out of about 45,000 government schools had switched to CBSE till last year, with the rest continuing to follow the AP State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) curriculum.
“The IB syllabus, in vogue in the American schools, will be introduced in the government schools at the foundation level initially and expanded to the higher classes gradually,” Jagan said, after the agreement was signed Wednesday. “IB, which specialises in modern, innovative examination patterns, will vastly improve our students’ worldly knowledge and help them grab good opportunities in global universities.”
The same day, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet gave its approval for the MoU with IB.” A day later, the ruling YSR Congress Party posted about “the transformative collaboration” on social media, “to empower young minds for a brighter future of Andhra Pradesh.”
The blueprint for adaptation, accessed by ThePrint, shows that the YSRCP government aims to align the 10th board under the Commissioner of School Education, and the 12th board under the Secretary, Intermediate Board with IB.
Learning from roadblocks faced in CBSE implementation, the Jagan government plans to bring about the transformation over a span of 12 years. By 12th year, the project will culminate in the transformation of Andhra Pradesh 10th and 12th education boards to an equivalent level as the IB.
“The tangible outcome of this transformation is students who graduate from Class 10th, 12th will receive a joint certificate of AP board and IB,” the document says.
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Announcement done, but doubts remain
While a top education official says the plan is to introduce IB for Class 1 from 2024-25, Suresh Kumar, commissioner, school education told ThePrint that there is no timeline fixed for its introduction. “With the MoU, we have entered a six-month assessment phase which will give a clarity as to when we will be ready to start adopting the IB curriculum,” he said.
It is this “ambiguity added to abrupt introduction” of another curriculum that teacher’s associations are protesting.
“Thanks to the CM’s enthusiasm, the school education system, we can say, is mighty disturbed. Modernisation is welcome but the CM is hastily switching from one system to another as per his whim. If the students are unable to cope, the blame falls on the teachers,” Pakalapati Raghu Varma, an independent MLC elected from Uttarandhra Teachers’ constituency, told ThePrint.
School teachers say training modules to adapt to CBSE were inadequate. “We had only one online session which was not very useful. We are struggling to absorb the new syllabus and teach it to children,” a teacher of a high school near Narasaraopet said. Sixth to tenth standards in this school follow CBSE.
One of the criticisms is that Jagan opted for IB to save face as the officials realised not many schools could qualify for CBSE affiliation. A CBSE school should have a minimum two acres of land, with playground, spacious class rooms, library, labs etc facilities.
But the commissioner, school education, asserted that the process for CBSE recognition would continue.
“CBSE importance is mainly for its school end exams, whereas CM’s vision is that our students should be prepared for outside, global level evaluation too. Which is why the IB is roped in,” Kumar said. “Once the IB framework is successfully established, we might even bring CBSE schools under IB.”
There are 62,530 schools, including private ones, which are recognised by the Andhra Pradesh government and follow the SCERT curriculum. They have to switch to IB once the state adopts the pattern. The over 320 schools — including private, Navodaya, Kendriya Vidyalayas that offer CBSE and ICSE courses — can continue to operate under these central boards.
Ahead of the next year’s state election, Jagan’s present idea comes on the back of initiatives like Jagananna Ammavodi, which provides Rs 13,000 annually to poor mothers for sending their children to schools.
School bags, books, uniforms, shoes-socks, belts etc are provided free once a year under the Jagananna Vidya Kanuka scheme. Government schools are undergoing transformation under the Naadu-Nedu programme.
“We are thinking of shifting my daughter, in third standard in a private school, to the government school in our area as we see a big improvement in infrastructure and teaching. We don’t understand much about these curricula but hope the government finalises something good and sticks to it,” said Manohar T, a trader in Srikakulam in northern Andhra.
However, teachers, educationists rue the absence of consultation. “Vital decisions like curriculum changes impacting about 60 lakh students in school education are being taken at the CMO and involving the big corporates,” says Ch Shankar, a government sector teacher in Nellore in south coastal Andhra.
“State, central or global syllabus doesn’t matter when the essential teaching capability and infrastructure is in place. Many of our students who studied state syllabus are doing very well both abroad and within the country. Reforms in education should not be driven for publicity, electoral gains,” the chairman of a chain of schools in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana told ThePrint.
Praveen Prakash, Principal Secretary, AP Education Department has explanations for this change. “The CBSE option was to make our students competitive at national level, now the attempt is to make them fit for the global race. Our CM is democratising what is perceived as elite education, a preserve of the wealthy,” he said. “Teachers will also benefit as it trains them in teaching a globally respected curriculum.”
The curriculum change is the major step of Jagan in the education sector following his 2019 decision to replace Telugu with English as the medium of instruction in government schools, a move vehemently opposed move by TDP, JanaSena and others who advocated teaching in mother tongue.
Kumar claims that about 90 percent of students in government schools have taken to English medium learning. “Since 2020-21, we have been providing bilingual textbooks to help ease the transition. In the summative exams held last month, 90 percent of students opted to write in English,” the school education commissioner said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)