Mita Mukherjee

Alarmed about the continuous decline in number of students opting for science stream at the plus two level ( XI and XII) in the state, the state higher secondary council of Bengal has decided to launch a campaign before the start of the new academic session to attract students back to science.

The council will soon start conducting workshops to provide latest information and give guidance to higher secondary school teachers regarding implementation of the newly introduced semester system in the higher secondary course where special emphasis will be given on teaching of science subjects and how to make the subjects more attractive to students, Chiranjib Bhattacharya, president, West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education said.

Not more than 12 percent of the total candidates who cleared the Madhyamik (Class X board) examination in the state had signed up for the science stream in the last three years, which has prompted the council to create awareness among students about the importance of studying science, council officials said.  

Nearly 80,000 students which is only around 10 percent of the total number of students who cleared the Madhyamik (Class X board) examination in 2021 had enrolled in science stream in that year of whom only 20,000 had opted to study mathematics, sources said.

The trend is still continuing with maximum 12 percent students signing up for the science streams in the following years, according to the sources.

According to academics and council officials, they initially believed that the reason behind the low 10 per cent enrollment in pure science (physics, chemistry mathematics) and bio-science (physics, chemistry and biology) could be due to impact of Covid-19 pandemic that affected normal functioning of schools as institutions across the country had to switch to the online mode of teaching for several months at a stretch.    

Chiranjib Bhattacharya, council president said the disinterest in science is a matter of concern though it is not a new phenomenon and also not unique to Bengal. It is evident also in other parts of India and even in many other countries.

“ Students, till a decade ago, would flock to the science streams. Over the past few years, science has stopped being the first preference. This is a national phenomenon and there are many reasons behind the decline in number of takers in science. But we need to draw more students to the science streams and this is possible by making the process of teaching and learning of science subjects more attractive,” Bhattacharya told EducationWorld.

“With the bifurcation of the higher secondary course by introducing  semester system from the current 2024-25 academic session , the entire syllabus, exam system, question pattern have been recast and made more student-friendly and attractive. We are expecting that with the introduction of the semester system, more students will gradually show interest to come back to science. We will start a campaign to sensitize students towards studying science,” Bhattacharya said.     

Bengal had noticed a sharp 33 percent drop in enrollment of students in the science stream in 2014 when the number of students opting science had dropped to 115,000 from 300,000 in 2011.

Goutam Banerjee, secretary of Calcutta Institute of Engineering and Management, an organization that provides stipend of Rs 750 per month  to needy and meritorious students, recently organized a workshop with heads of around 125 higher secondary schools to discuss about introduction of two new subjects, artificial intelligence and machine learning in the higher secondary course where many schools had revealed that number of takers for seats in their science streams were steadily decreasing.

Arundhuti Mukherjee, a veteran teacher of mathematics, said that less students are opting science because new fields are emerging in subjects like geography, English, sociology and journalism that open good career  options and job opportunities.

“ Students are gradually becoming more career oriented and so they don’t blindly rush to study science. The fear of math is there but this is not the only reason for the decline. Earlier, there was a social stigma that students studying arts and commerce are not good in studies. Students and parents too have overcome this mental block,” said Mukherjee.

Also read: Science, Arts most popular streams over last 10 years, commerce has stagnated: MoE