Subject minimum for UP classes too from coming academic year: Minister

A child holds on to the set of school text books received for the upcoming academic year at Cotton hill GHS in Thiruvananthapuram.
Education Minister V. Sivankutty formally inaugurated the State level distribution of revised school text books from Cotton Hill GHS in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

Subject minimum will be implemented in classes V, VI, and VII from the 2025-26 academic year, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.

He was speaking at the State-level inauguration of school textbook distribution in the State capital on Wednesday.

The Minister said the decision to extend subject minimum to upper primary classes came in the wake of reactions from students, parents, and teachers following the introduction of subject minimum in class VIII in the 2024-25 academic year and extending remedial teaching to those who did not secure 30% marks in each subject in the written examination.

The government had already announced that subject minimum will be implemented for classes VIII and IX in the 2025-26 academic year and for classes VIII to X from the 2026-27 year.

The textbooks were revised keeping in mind the latest advances in science and technology. Teachers were being given training by adopting novel teaching methods that integrated emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics.

The Minister said more than 3 crore textbooks were ready for distribution. After the introduction of new textbooks for classes I, III, V, VII, and IX in the 2024-25 academic year, textbooks for classes II, IV, VI, VIII, and X were also revised. A total of 443 new textbooks were developed. Class X textbooks reached students of class IX right after their year-end examinations.

A comprehensive quality education programme was rolled out this past year to ensure each student attained the learning outcomes envisaged for their class.

The Minister also released ‘Kurunnezhuthukal,’ a compilation of select diary entries of class I students in State schools that has been edited by him.

Mithun, a student of GLPS, Thottakad; Siddharth of Government JBS, Neyyattinkara; Aditi of GLPS, Anchal; and Leo Liju of SBN LPS, Thelliyoor, Pathanamthitta; and Asher K. Shaiju of CMS LPS, Ponkunnam, received the book from the Minister on behalf of students writing the diary entries, including those in the book, brought out by the Vidyakiranam Mission.

Besides the diary entries, reactions of teachers and parents are included in the book.