Picture this: Indian school students studying Harry Potter in classrooms.
If this is your fondest fantasy, you can stop fantasising now.
Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (also known as the ICSE board) has revamped the English Literature syllabus for classes III to VIII to include a generous dose of pop-fiction and graphic novels for its students – a big leap from the Shakespearean education students are used to.
The wholesome selection will take students on a ride with Feluda, Tintin, Poirot and Sherlock Holmes’ adventures, and also introduce the comic genre into the syllabus, with Amar Chitra Katha, Asterix and American cartoonist Art Spiegel man's Holocaust saga ‘Maus’, The Economics Times reported.
Ready to pinch yourself yet? There’s more. Besides Harry Potter's magical universe, the syllabus will also feature Tolkein’s The Hobbit. PG Wodehouse and Dickens will be there in abundance. And lovers of Agatha Christie’s mystery novels? They won’t need a library period anymore to peruse her books – they can simply get their fill in classrooms.
There will also be a whole range of autobiographies – from Anne Frank to Malala and APJ Abdul Kalam. As for the little kids in Standards I and II – illustrated books of Noddy will keep them amused.
Are you regretting not being a millennial, yet?
(Source: The Economic Times)
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