Handbooks for Maharashtra teachers, students for new subjects

THE MAHARASHTRA STATE Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) will issue handbooks to students and teachers in its affiliated schools to help them tackle the revised syllabus and the new subjects. According to Board Chairman Ujjwala Patil, the handbooks will be issued for 14 different subjects for Classes IX and XI, some of which are being newly introduced. The booklets will be issued from the forthcoming academic session. The board has taken the step since the syllabus for several subjects has been changed, and some new topics have also been introduced. Although the syllabus for most subjects has been changed, Science, Mathematics, Political Science, Languages and Sports Education have seen major changes. Similarly, topics like Right to Education, Right to Information, human rights, Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyaan (SSA), the drafting of the Constitution, and fundamental rights and duties are among the new topics, Ms. Patil pointed out. The handbooks would make the task of imparting lessons easier for the teachers, she said. Separate handbooks would be issued to students, and would contain illustrations and resources to enable them to get more information, she also said. Balbharati (Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research) will prepare the handbooks, to be published in English and Marathi for teachers. While these will be issued free of cost to teachers, students would need to buy them, she added.