The Directorate of Collegiate Education has drafted a list of faculty from aided and government colleges to finalise the syllabus for the test for faculty recruitment for government arts and science colleges.

In a circular, M. Eswaramurthy, the Director of Collegiate Education, said the NET syllabus might be taken as the basis for the exam. If the NET syllabus was unavailable for a subject, the SET syllabus might be taken. For subjects having neither of the syllabus, the university syllabus might be taken.

The PG syllabus of a subject would be used. The work would be conducted on Monday and Tuesday.

Opinion: the current syllabus falls well short of reflecting the knowledge and expertise required for modern accountants

If I were to pitch accounting as a career to a secondary school student in 30 seconds or less, I would say the following: studying accounting provides you with broad business knowledge and skills. Few careers offer greater flexibility regarding potential industries, roles, and locations that accountants can target. The pay is excellent for newly qualified accountants, and a high proportion of CEOs in some of the world's largest companies have backgrounds in accounting.

Unfortunately, none of this enthusiasm is found in the current Leaving Cert accounting syllabus. The first description of accounting on the site’s landing page is "Leaving Certificate accounting provides students with the knowledge, understanding and skills in accounting and financial management necessary for managing personal and basic company accounts." It's hardly the stuff that will stoke the flames of ambition in a modern teenager.

Our Leaving Cert students are being examined on guidance two generations out of date.

In fairness, Wikipedia does no better with its opening definition of "accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing and communication of financial and non-financial information about economic entities such as business and corporations".

Snooze…

To be fair, accountants do indeed have strong technical skills related to the above areas. However, what the definitions miss is that modern accounting also requires the development of more general business competencies like strategic management and leadership, data analytics, risk management, and sustainability, and key personal values like ethics and professionalism. Right now, professional accounting bodies and firms are using their wide breadth of competencies to position themselves as leaders in meeting the business challenges of a VUCA future: more volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

So how exactly does the current Leaving Cert syllabus fall short of reflecting this necessary knowledge and expertise?

Too much focus on financial performance

Accounting is the language of business and, historically, business was all about financial profits. However, modern accounting is evolving with businesses to more sustainable models. The definition of success is now much broader and requires businesses to determine a more well-rounded perspective of their operations and relationships with the community, environment, and economy. Rather than solely focusing on bottom-line financial profits, we now talk about the "triple bottom line": people, planet and profit.

The people category requires businesses to consider their impact on all stakeholders, like employees and the local community, and not just business owners. The planet category requires businesses to consider the impact on their natural environment, the size of their carbon footprint and use of natural resources. Even the definition of profit is different from the old-school model because businesses now need to consider their economic impact beyond profits for owners, such as creating employment and driving innovation.

It's clearly out of date

The syllabus requires students to know about an accounting standard called SSAP 2. Accounting standards are legal guidance on accounting for certain transactions and events and are often revised and updated to incorporate emerging issues. SSAP 2 was issued in 1971, but was superseded by a new standard in 2001, which was superseded again in 2015.

What this means is our Leaving Cert students are being examined on guidance two generations out of date. That might be fine if a client is a history lover, but not so much if they need up-to-date business critical advice.

These two observations highlight the growing gap between how accounting is taught to Leaving Cert students versus the wider societal role of accounting that we are witnessing.

We owe it to students to help them develop knowledge and skills to tackle a different landscape than any prior generation has faced.

However, accounting also faces another endemic problem spread across the leaving cert: the bias towards rote learning. At its simplest, rote learning is a memorisation technique that involves repeating facts and figures until they are stored in memory banks. Rote learning has advantages and is an important tool in developing foundational knowledge (think of primary school children learning the alphabet). It is not without its value in Leaving Cert accounting but unfortunately, it completely dominates the learning landscape for students in their two-year points race.

I meet some of these students when they come to study accounting in UCC. They arrive as "recall experts" in content judged important 30 years ago when the current Leaving Cert syllabus was developed. They lack the level of understanding, insight and authenticity that we associate with more meaningful types of learning.

This is not their fault; they played the game the way it needs to be played to maximise grades. However, it sells these students short and is a poor reflection of who they are and what they are capable of doing if given the right mix of opportunities and guidance. They have strong ambitions and a wide range of interests. They are often highly skilled in other pursuits like sports and the arts. A lot of them admirably balance their university studies with part-time work and often volunteer with charities and other fund-raising activities.

Ultimately, what’s most disappointing for me is that the Leaving Cert has the potential to help secondary school students gain an earlier realisation of who they are and what they can achieve, but is falling well short of this attainable goal. Solutions and the appetite for reform exist, and we are on a path to change, but the pace of that change is too slow and damaging any meaningful progress.

Learning from the past is one thing, but being stuck in the past is another. We owe it to students to help them develop the knowledge and skills required to tackle a more dynamic and complex landscape than any prior generation has faced.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) has, over the last fortnight, been cracking down on managements running “central syllabus” schools with no requisite affiliation while giving the impression to parents that they are accredited to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations. DSEL has served notices to more than 700 such schools, over 600 in Bengaluru alone. However, people in the know say this has been going on for years and reflects the government’s failure to regulate the ecosystem.

Most of these schools, while they have an affiliation to only the State board, say they are teaching either ICSE or CBSE syllabus, violating the norms of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

Huge demand for Central Board schools

With statistics showing that students who study the central syllabus have an edge in professional course entrance examinations, there has been a huge demand for schools teaching the central syllabus. This has led to many educational institutions making false claims that they are affiliated to either of the central boards and, in turn, charge a fee severalfold more than what State syllabus schools generally charge.

In the past few weeks, parents of children studying in one such school protested, as the school claiming to be affiliated to CBSE and teaching that syllabus till now suddenly distributed State syllabus textbooks. The protests soon spread to several branches of the school chain in the city and led to an FIR against one of them in Nagarbhavi.

The school, in a statement, said that while nine of their branches already had CBSE affiliation, others were “in the process” of getting it. This process generally takes 3-4 years, which they claim was further delayed due to the pandemic. These protests opened a can of worms.

Public exams exposed it all

The phenomenon of schools claiming central board affiliation is not new. It has been happening right under the nose of DSEL for many years. But what set the cat among the pigeons was the department’s recent decision to hold a public examination for Classes V and VIII.

Since there are no public exams till Class X in central syllabus schools, educational institutions have ample time to get affiliated to a central board long after they have set up the school. Till then, many schools remain affiliated to the State board while teaching the Central syllabus.

However, with the introduction of public exams for Classes V and VIII from this academic year in State-affiliated schools, they were forced to teach students State syllabus textbooks, alerting parents to what they were unaware of.

Check for irregularities

Meanwhile, DSEL had formed a three-member committee led by the Block Education Officer (BEO) in each taluk to survey schools to check for irregularities. Post survey, DSEL issued notices to over 700 schools across the State alleging that while they had affiliation to the State board, they were falsely claiming affiliation to a central board and teaching that syllabus.

However, a section of private school managements said the survey was an “offensive” launched by the department against them in response to allegations of corruption they had levelled against them a few months ago.

How the system works

Neither the CBSE nor the CISCE provides affiliation to a newly opened school. They must first obtain a State board affiliation for Classes I to V and run the school for five years, following which they can take a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the State government to get an affiliation for a central board.

After applying, the central board issues a provisional certificate only to indicate that the said school is “under consideration” for affiliation. Then, based on inspection reports, the board provides a permanent affiliation. The process takes around five years. If the board denies the affiliation, it will continue to function as a State board school.

Schools’ defence

However, without following this procedure and waiting for an affiliation, many schools are taking in students claiming to have already been affiliated to either of the central boards. If parents seek any clarification, these schools usually show the provisional certificate issued by the concerned central board or the NOC issued by the State government.

Some have also cited mention of their school as a central board-affiliated one on the Government of India’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) portal, which is only a self-declaration.

Right now, the pressure on students studying in these schools is a matter of significant concern, especially in Classes V and VIII this year. These students, who were being taught NCERT textbooks, are now given State syllabus textbooks to prepare for public exams, putting them under immense stress and confusion. Neither the school managements nor DSEL has yet to devise any plan on how these children will cope with it.

Lax enforcement and corruption

Though DSEL has powers to withdraw the NOC issued to a school and impose a hefty penalty for violation of rules, there has not been any such action.

Shashikumar D., General Secretary for Associated Managements of English Medium Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said that despite their repeated appeals, there had been no action against schools that falsely claim and run central syllabus. Alleging wide-scale collusion between school managements and officials, he said BEO reports on school inspections should not be trusted blindly, and DSEL has to make them public to allow scrutiny and call for objections, he added.

Minister promises transparency

However, Minister for the Department of School Education and Literacy, B.C. Nagesh assured stringent action against errant schools as per law. “We are holding public exams for Classes V and VIII to prevent such irregularities. We are also planning to launch a separate portal to disclose all the unauthorised and fraudulent schools’ names and their addresses,” he said.

As Valentine's Day approaches, many Canadians are preparing to celebrate by taking their loved ones to dinner and buying them gifts, but how much are we spending on this day coast to coast?

A new survey by Time2play reveals that, depending on where they live, Canadians in relationships are planning to spend between $55 and $130, on average, whether it’s on dates, presents or other activities on Valentine’s Day.

People in British Columbia plan to spend the most on Valentine’s Day this year with an average of about $129.43, according to the survey.

Quebec residents are the second biggest spenders on love and plan to spend an average of about $115.20. Albertans came in third, considering $111.66 in spending on average for love. Ontarians are the fourth biggest spenders with an average budget of $104.26.

According to the survey, Prince Edward Island residents will be spending the least this year on Valentine’s Day at an average of $55.

When it comes to who should pay for the Valentine’s Day date, 60.1 per cent of respondents said they believe that both parties should split the cost.

When respondents were asked “who should plan the Valentine’s Day?” 70.5 per cent of them said they prefer both partners should plan the date together.

When it comes to a preferred Valentine’s Day activity, 39.1 per cent of respondents said they believe a romantic evening at home is a perfect activity, while 31.2 per cent prefer to go out for dinner and 15.3 per cent want to do an activity with their partner over a shared interest.

Fewer people, 12.4 per cent, said they prefer a weekend getaway, and only 1.8 per cent want to go out to a movie theatre.

Breaking things down by generation, the silent generation (1928-1945) is the biggest spender, planning to spend an average of about $333.33 on Valentine’s Day.

Gen Xers (1965-1980) are the second biggest spenders and plan to spend an average of $124.90. Baby Boomers (1946-1964) plan to spend about $100.66, while Gen Z (1997-2012) plan to spend about $97.50 and Millennials (1981-1996) plan to spend about $97.05 on Valentine’s Day this year.

Methodology:

The survey was conducted in January among 1,000 Canadians that are currently in a relationship, engaged, and married. The average age in years is 35.1. 58 per cent of respondents were women, 39.3 per cent of respondents were men and 2.7 per cent identified as non-binary.

Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.