The Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) has been on the forefront of redefining syllabus for students to make it more conducive for the life after schooling. The board has now introduced several vocational courses for all of the students to explore their interest and hone their skills.
In 2014-15, a students studying in a CBSE affiliated school can pick courses like gender studies, legal studies etc. in their 11th grade as an elective course. CBSE is offering these courses after the success of the pilot courses launched last year. NCC, human rights and the unique Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India are some courses offered that combines various disciplines of study. For middle school, the board is offering Chinese language, the pilot run of which is under way in 25 schools at present.
This year onwards, theatre studies will also be offered as an elective course on a first come-first serve basis. Students taking up this exam wil be appearing for board examinations in 2015.
The circular that was circulated among the schools received a positive response from all over as well as from the teaching community. The circular added that "it aims to engage students with a sense of exploration and discovery while highlighting the concepts and major achievements in various disciplines of knowledge".
Those who are planning to appear for law or pursue it as their career are going to find the course on legal studies intellectually appealing. Many a places, the demand for these courses is starting to pick up, especially in Nagpur. Even though CBSE provides materials online, getting the books for these courses might be a problem initially.
Another factor determining the selection of these courses in schools is the availability of faculty but that shouldn’t come as a lot of trouble for the schools as these courses are extremely basic in nature.
