Unavailability of textbooks has sent students of Classes 9 and 11 in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools in Oman into a tizzy.
With the new academic year getting under way in Oman - in India it starts only in June - students and parents are frantically searching for textbooks both in Oman and in India following changes effected in the syllabi of these two classes.
CBSE-affiliated schools are spread all across the Gulf countries. And with over 300,000 Indians in Oman, the problem seems graver as the parents are compelled to download the new syllabi from the Internet for their wards.
India's National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) effected the changes in the light of the National Curriculum Framework.
The Framework lays stress on activity-based learning, reducing curricular burden and examination stress and linking children's life at school with their experiences at home.
A report in the Oman Tribune newspaper quoted G.D. Rao, Administration Manager in an Indian School, Al Ghubra, as saying that his school has been tackling the situation by providing students with worksheets ever since the school reopened for the new term in March.
As a contingency arrangement, teachers have downloaded lessons from the new syllabus and are using them to teach the students until the textbooks arrive in the market.
{{/usCountry}}As a contingency arrangement, teachers have downloaded lessons from the new syllabus and are using them to teach the students until the textbooks arrive in the market.
{{/usCountry}}However, India's Minister for Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh released the new textbooks, including those for Classes 1, 3 and 6, on April 5.
Asked about the shortage of books in the market, Singh said that efforts are on to solve the problem.