Difference between Curriculum and Syllabus

Curriculum and syllabus are of an equal importance for an institute, but there is a distinction between the two of these. Curriculum is a set of guiding principles which have been established to help the teachers/facilitators decide on the content to be taught. It not only defines the subject’s content but also helps in defining methods to be used to measure each student’s comprehension of the subject. Syllabus is a detailed list of concepts to be taken up in a particular grade. Curriculum is generally not accessible to students wile syllabus is accessible to the students at the beginning of the term.

Curriculum is usually designed at the State or National Level. It can also be designed at the College or Institute level so that the teachers are aware of the content to be taught throughout the year. It is a systematic representation of not only the content but also upon the ideas of ‘how’ to teach the students. It also acts as a guide for deciding about the Assessment criteria to be used and is also used as a roadmap to decide upon the subject content by many educators.

Syllabus is created by the teachers for their respective courses and is usually focussed upon a particular class. Syllabus provides the learners with an over-view of the course content in order to allow them to understand the expectations by the term end.
Syllabus generally provides the students with the schedule of teaching to be undertaken, with details of submissions of projects, assignments, assessments, etc. This gives the students/ guardians to plan and work on the weak areas.