A good deal of new thinking has been initiated on the point of the role of the commerce curriculum by the Government of India, planning commission, educationist, magnets in the field of commerce and last but not the least the Board of Secondary Examination as well as board of Secondary Education in every state in India According to the growing needs of the economy and the employment opportunities available in the next decade, there is the need of changes in the pattern and composition of the existing course extents of the commerce programme .
At present, though there are two sequences: Book-keeping sequence and the stenographic sequence; only one sequence predominates. i.e. the Book-keeping sequence the other sequence, i.e. stenographic sequence has been mostly ignored. Even if it has been introduced in a very few schools the programmes suffer considerably on
Hence the above four sequences have been suggested, which may be offered at the high or higher secondary levels. If these sequences are offered at the school level, they will be able to meet the future needs and demands of the youth on the one hand and the society on the other.
In order to finalise the curriculum of the commerce programme, a good deal of discussing among the teachers, educators, planners and administrators is vitally needed, so that every state may adopt it, maintaining uniformity in the syllabus and standards of achievement in different sequences.
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Analysis of multi-purpose school syllabus
Even after the adoption of diversified courses in commerce it was observed that the products of commerce schools and colleges are facing acute problems of unemployment. After reviewing the position in India it was suggested that a student of commerce must have a general knowledge of the programmes of commerce with specialisation in one or two subjects such system exists even in developed countries such as USA, England and Germany. It simply means that the students be given a freedom to his subjects. He may be allowed to offer our subject of his choice but should be asked to take up the study of other subjects of commerce stream to acquire a general knowledge of all the subjects in thus improve his understanding of commerce.
Syllabus of book-keeping
The main deficiency in the syllabus of Book-keeping is that it does not create a confidence in the business world about the ability and competency of students. Such a doubt crops up mainly due to negligence in developing proper concepts of Book-keeping before teaching to students about: (i) Personal account, (ii) Real account, and (iii) Nominal account. It so happens because teacher wrongly presumes that students have the knowledge of accounts.
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The other major defect in existing syllabus of book-keeping in that its teaching starts with too many concepts by giving only a preview or general background of these concepts. It leads to utter confusion and the student fails to understand the basic concepts of bookkeeping. Furthermore the present syllabus in book-keeping is too narrow and too theoretical and so the students fail to do well in their practical life.
Presently a new thinking based on equation approach or Balance sheet approach has come up in the teaching of book-keeping in this approach certain basic concepts of book-keeping are developed before introducing the teaching of journalizing and ledger posting. It is thus more logical.
The introduction of three basic elements of book keeping i.e. Assets, liabilities and capital is quite useful to thinking, reasoning and analysing, power of the students, ‘how’ and ‘why’ aspects on the new approach the is introduced to the device of recording changes in assets, liabilities an” capital through T-forms: Such an introduction is essential for creating a good background for introducing journalizing.
It is desirable to modify the syllabus in book-keeping in the light of the above observations. In addition to what has been stated in foregoing discussion the syllabus in book-keeping should include sufficient use of work-books, practice sets and book-keeping manual. The use of various types of forms and books of accounts should be mandatory. It would also be highly desirable to emphasise the use of business forms actually used in business houses.
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Syllabus of elements of commerce
The existing syllabus is more theoretical and so fails to develop the skills of handling business activities. Any syllabus in elements of commerce is expected to pin point various equipments that a school must have for proper teaching of the subject. The possession of these teaching aids be mandatory for the schools.
The existing text-books should be modified so as to include the new areas of business that have assumed importance. They should also include the upto date procedure of export, import licensing and Banking etc.
The practical training in commercial office, business office, bank etc. is made compulsory by making such a provision in the syllabus. The syllabus must have certain basic concepts e.g. mock trails, Group discussions, projects etc.
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Syllabus of economics
The existing syllabus develops the basic theoretical concepts of economics but fails to train the students in applied economics. The main objective of teaching economics is to develop in them economic understanding of the functions of production, consumption, exchange and distribution for making the individual and society ‘better’ and ‘among other things’ promote the general welfare and preserve democratic ideals. To achieve such an objective the knowledge of applied branch of economics is a must and to a paper in economics be included to cover the following.
(i) Various objectives of five year plans of India.
(ii) The Industrial policy of Government of India and its impact on Indian Economy.
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(iii) Agricultural contribution to the Indian Economy.
(iv) Export-import trade in India.
(v) Foreign trade policy of Indian Government.
To achieve anything concrete the syllabus needs a thorough screening and it should be framed in such a way as to develop, in the student, business economics understanding. It should also aim to develop students understanding and appreciation of role, the business plays in our daily life.
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Syllabus in economic geography
We should emphasise, in it, the study of different region of the world putting more emphasis on different regions of India. The existing syllabus is too narrow and the data included in text-books is outdated and obsolete, some coordinated efforts in this direction are urgently required both on the part of Government and other educational publishers. some way must be found that annual reports published by Government are made easily available to the students so that students may be able to know the economic resources of the country and ways and means of exploiting these resources.
The inclusion of projects in the syllabus will help the students in proper understanding of the knowledge. The syllabus should also aim at developing the students skills in drawing maps, charts and diagrams and for this purpose enough practice be given to the students by including such topics in the syllabus of economic geography.
It would be desirable of reform the syllabus in the light of above suggestion.
Syllabus in short-hand
In the syllabus of short-hand more emphasis is laid on the vocational aspect of content area because it is a vocational subject. So far we have failed to make the syllabus more vocational oriented. Two systems exist in America (viz. (i) hand written symbol system and (ii) marching short-hand system). In India even the first system (i.e. hand written symbol system) has not fared well. This may be attributed to the defect of the content and the organisation of subject matter.
In short-hand teaching the book most commonly used in Pitman short-hand Instructor which does not suit our conditions. This book was written in England and includes many an English words which are not commonly used in India. The preparation and publication of book suitable for Indian students is the first and foremost need in this area.
A thorough knowledge of short-hand and a good hand writing of the teacher who demonstrates the short-hand writings on blackboard is a must. The use of properly ruled black-boards should be made compulsory. Due emphasis be placed on reading manuscripts as well as printed outlines in short-hand. Proper place be given to all the three important activities (viz. Reading, Copying and transcribing).
Practice exercises in text-books should be such as to accelerate the final learning’s.
There should be included in syllabus some student-teacher project on short-hand procedure.