SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE) has changed textbooks for Economics in Class XI for the second time in three months leading to confusion.
MBoSE issued a notification on May 3 saying it was adopting CBSE syllabus and NCERT/CBSE textbooks for Class XI for 2018-19 academic session and Class XII for 2019-20 academic session.
It also recommended a list of textbooks like Eco Statistics for Class XI, NCERT and Indian Economic Development, NCERT.
Three months after the notification, MBoSE issued another notification on August 13 recommending NCERT textbooks like Introductory Microeconomics Part A and Statistics for Economics Part B for 2018-19 session of Class XI.
An Economics teacher said the two notifications “have led to a lot of confusion” as many chapters of the Indian Economic Development have been completed. “It was a waste of time and energy for the students,” the teacher said requesting anonymity.
Some teachers, who spoke to The Shillong Times on condition of anonymity, said the new book, Introductory Microeconomics, “is hardly available in the market and students are facing problem”.
When contacted, Khasi Jaintia Deficit School Teachers Association president ED Nongsiang said the matter was discussed among teachers and “the Board must study in details before issuing notifications”. “It is creating confusion and when (we) enquired, the board was not clear. Students now have very less time to prepare for examinations,” he added.
The association will urge MBoSE to clear the confusion. Also, the board has not given any model question paper and there is no pattern of setting questions and the teachers’ body will take up the issue with MBoSE, said Nongsiang.