Science courses need makeover

Every summer the corridors of the colleges of Delhi University are flooded with the stressed admission seekers. Parents and children run from college to college struggling with the skyrocketing cut-offs of PCM and PCME etc.

Science being a traditional field has always high cut-offs and if one manages to get admission one has to really work hard to pursue science course at the undergraduate level. There is a need to cater to the wide variability of student population, in terms of opinion, ability, aptitude level and orientation.

“The undergraduate science courses have a very rigid combination of papers like Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Chemistry, Zoology and Botany recent additions such as Physics and Computer Science go on with the same idea with one or two optional papers these combinations are difficult to deal with,” says Sameeksha, a B.Sc student, Hindu College.

The curriculum never addresses to an individual student's needs and aptitude level.

"What is needed is a radical overhaul of the course structure, teaching methodology and examination system. Various proposals have been framed in accordance to that and now it should be implemented. There is also a need to build in flexibility into the curriculum. Variability should be well dealt with in terms of the syllabus as well as the students," says Amitabh Mukherjee, Director, Center for Science Education and Communication.

"An interactive course information processing & group work has been planned. It aims at introducing skills of information and building inter- personal relations,” adds Amitabh Mukherji.