UP govt schools kids to study Covid, Vedic Maths and Namami Gange too

As part of syllabus revamp, students enrolled in around 1.59 lakh government-run primary and upper primary schools of Uttar Pradesh would soon get to study Covid-19, Vedic Maths and Namami Gange scheme.

Besides, Sanskrit would now be taught from class one instead of class three.

The new syllabus has been approved by Basic Education Council recently.

Director (basic education), UP, Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh said, “Revamping the syllabus and making suitable changes in it is a continuous process which is being done in consultation with our team of expert academicians. The aim is to keep our students abreast with the contemporary knowledge.”

As per the changes, students of government-run 45,625 upper primary schools (class 6 to 8) would be learning about Covid-19 which would be included in their science syllabus. Besides, Vedic Mathematics has also been included in the course for students of classes 4 and 5, said officials of basic education department who are in the know of things but not authorised to speak.

Also, for the first time around 20 lakh children studying in classes 1 and 2 in 1,13,289 government-run primary schools across the state would get to learn Sanskrit, they said.

Recently, the Yogi government had decided to impart Sanskrit knowledge to children of classes 1 and 2.

The officials said five small illustrated lessons in Sanskrit have been included in class 1 from this year in which names of fruits and vegetables, names of farmers and workers, names of family members etc have been included.

Besides, four-line poems and numbers up to five have been introduced for students of class 2. These books would also have illustrations that would interest the children and help them in understanding the subject with ease.

The officials further said other diseases such as Japanese Encephalitis had been included earlier.

On Vedic Maths, the officials said, things like addition, subtraction, LCM and HCF etc will be taught.

Similarly, lessons on Namami Gange have been added to “Hamara Environment”, a book for children of classes 6 to 8 from the current session (2021-22), they added.

It will teach students about the efforts being made to clean Ganga and the scheme so that children can be sensitized on the issue and contribute in the mission once they grow up.

Besides, the names and photographs of the books have also been changed considerably. Now, the textbooks would have photos associated with children’s surroundings.