Govt plans to do away with homework

The state government is contemplating introducing yet another move that it believes would benefit children. Soon, the education department proposes to do away with homework given to children.

As part of the new education policy that the state government is proposing, it is hoping to introduce a norm which would stop schools from giving children any assignments. According to the principal secretary of the department of primary and secondary education, Shalini Rajneesh, this would be among the other proposals to be placed before the state Cabinet for approval.

This comes a day after Minister for Primary and Secondary Education N Mahesh proposed another move where students will be taking open-textbook exams.

The private schools’ association has, however, objected to both the proposed moves. They opined that such moves would “harm the brain and its wiring in keeping with the biological process of the human body”.

“All these reactions harm the brain’s learning process. Each new minister and bureaucrat recommends views without any research,” said Shashi Kumar D, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka.

Terming it an unscientific move, they said that this would not help children improve their memory.

Minister Mahesh had told reporters in Chamrajnagar on Sunday that the government was mulling an open-book system for exams. He had said the present exam format where students were not allowed to look into notes during exams helped only two to three percent of the students. He said the new move would help reduce the fear of exams.