The State school curriculum steering committee has approved 173 textbook titles in a comprehensive curriculum revision for classes I, III, V, VII, and IX.
Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty who is the chairman of the committee told mediapersons that the committee that met in the State capital on Tuesday gave approval to the new textbooks for the five classes as part of curriculum reforms taken up after a decade.
New textbooks for classes II, IV, VI, VIII, and X will be ready in time for the 2025-26 academic year, he said.
Mr. Sivankutty said the increase in knowledge over the past decade and a half, advancement in science and technology, changes in information and communications technology would be reflected in the curriculum.
He pointed out that the curriculum revision was done over a year-and-half, and in a transparent and democratic manner through public discussions. As many as 2.09 crore textbooks would be printed in Malayalam, English, Tamil, and Kannada. These would reach students two weeks before schools reopened for the next academic year.
More than 90 teachers were involved in the process in preparing the textbooks. The team for preparing each of the 173 titles had an adviser, chairperson, two experts, and eight persons for readying the content. Four textbook writing workshops, two editing workshops, and one scrutiny workshop were held, before an expert committee also went through the textbooks. The gender lens was also applied during this scrutiny.
Vocational education
Mr. Sivankutty said vocational education would be provided to students of classes V to X in the new academic year. The idea was to develop an attitude towards work from the time they are young.
Activity books would be provided to these students to introduce them to various job sectors. The sectors include tourism, agriculture, information technology, textiles, and skill development. After students became familiar with these, they could study further and decide about career preferences.
Activity books would also be prepared for class I. Students from class V onwards would also study art education.
Digital textbooks would also be brought out. The textbooks also included drawings by children.
Preamble
The Preamble to the Constitution had been included in all textbooks for the first time, Mr. Sivankutty said. The curriculum would have activities intended for children to imbibe it. The State would continue to fight academically the anti-democratic activities that were happening in the country, he said.
POCSO laws
The textbooks would also focus on Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) laws, democratic and secular values, scientific consciousness, gender awareness based on equal justice, agriculture, waste management and sanitation, and sports.
The Minister said the State would bring out teachers’ handbooks. Special training would also be given to teachers.
For the first time, a handbook for parents too would be brought out. It would focus on parents’ approach to children’s education, understanding children’s physical, mental, and emotional growth, how to give consideration to children to address some of the main problems faced by children, he said.
