Govt yet to decide on making maths optional

Shillong, Oct 27:The state government will decide whether to make mathematics a compulsory subject in school education.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma said that a meeting was held with principals of over 30-40 secondary and higher secondary schools to discuss the matter.

“Many principals have raised concerns on the learning outcome and they have suggested the change of some textbooks to bring them at par with the national standard. Many are of the opinion to make mathematics compulsory but as of now, the government is yet to decide on this. We will examine the opinions and suggestions made by the principals. I also personally feel and many academicians and principals also suggested that mathematics should not be made an optional paper…as of now it is the best of five out of six subjects. Therefore, the government will take a decision in due process,” he said

The education minister said 90% of the students would opt out of mathematics if it is optional.

“If we allow it, everybody wants to be in an easy and comfort zone. To me personally, if we allow mathematics to be an optional paper, many students will opt out of it, that is for certain and that is for sure but today at this generation, going for higher studies without mathematics is something that is not appreciable but I think we are second to nobody, we can prepare well, we have the same brain with the rest of the globe and I think it is some we should decide and review,” he said.

Sangma said the department has asked the Directorate of Educational Research and Training (DERT) to do a research on the performance of the students before making mathematics an optional paper.

“We want to know how many students performed well in mathematics before making it optional and how many students have opted out of mathematics. We will get the data and we have requested the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE) and DERT to give us detailed data so that we can have better information and better understanding on this matter,” Sangma added.