Jaipur: State Institute of Educational Research and Training (SIERT) has prepared a new syllabus for English language to be taught in classes I to VIII, from next academic session. The syllabus has been prepared with the help of ICICI foundation and aims at making English easy for the students.

The state government had introduced English textbook for class VIII developed by NCERT, called Honeydew, in all schools of Rajasthan in current academic session. However, it was felt that the NCERT textbooks would be too difficult for the students. "For long, the need of interactive English teaching was felt and this new syllabus is an attempt to make English simpler and understandable for students," said an official of SIERT.

Therefore, the education department felt the need for the initiation of a new methodology to teach English in order to raise the standards of English teaching and learning in the state. The new syllabus will also include an audio support, consisting of rhymes and stories for listening, where children will listen just for pleasure, not overtly doing any language-related work. It's been felt that listening and speaking are two areas to be stressed upon to learn English by the students of the state. "These kinds of activities will make students comfortable with language and they will be able to understand the words clearly when somebody speaks English in front of them," informed the official. 

The new syllabus will prepare the students for new kinds of jobs, like that of BPOs. "Once the students become comfortable with the language, schools can train them for high paid jobs in BPOs," informed Mohal Lal Bendara, deputy director elementary education. The syllabus has been prepared after much discussion with various bodies, including NCERT. The department of education has now loaded the syllabus on its website for public viewing.