Hyderabad: Does Telangana hang on an outdated and old-fashioned mode of imparting education in co-curricular subjects? This issue comes to the fore following the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) doing away with an artificial division of subjects in terms of 'curricular' and 'co-curricular' and 'extra-curricular' models of imparting education. The School Academic Calendar-2024-25 underlines the promotion of co-curricular activities for the overall development of the children. Stressing the activities prescribed "are creative in nature and value-oriented and guide for the development of proper citizenship.
The activities shall be given due importance on par with the curricular subjects." The School Academic Calendar mandates conducting a total of 14 classes for primary, 9 classes for Upper Primary and 8 classes for high schools per week to conduct 'co-curricular' subject activities in all the schools in the state. However, when it is time to walk the talk, the burden of it has been thrust upon the school headmaster.
Mandating, "The Headmaster shall plan and allocate co-curricular subjects to the teachers based on their workload in their respective schools and see that all the co-curricular activities are implemented, assessed and recorded in the Cumulative Records." However, speaking to The Hans India, several headmasters, teachers and teacher union leaders are scratching their heads as to how to plan and integrate what the academic calendar is expecting them to delive.
