KOLKATA: English literature classes in ICSE schools will no more be the same. The Council of School Certificate Examination (CISCE) has prescribed some of the most popular books of our times -Harry Potter included -for junior and middle-school students while laying down a uniform syllabus for all schools to follow from the 2017-18 session.Most interestingly, it has introduced graphic novels -from Amar Chitra Katha to Tintin and Asterix to American cartoonist Art Spiegelman's Holocaust saga 'Maus' -for all Classes from III to VIII. This is a sea change from the time when students in ICSE schools would have their `comic books' confiscated by teachers.Besides Harry Potter 's magic, the students will also get to enjoy the exploits of Feluda, Poirot and Holmes or set off on a life-altering adventure through Middle-earth with Bilbo Baggins in Tolkien's `The Hobbit'. For those who want a dash of humour, there will be P G Wodehouse and lovers of classics will have their Dickens.There will also be a host of au tobiographies -from Anne Frank 's to Malala's To APJ Abdul Kalam's. Not to be left out, the little ones in Classes I and II will get their fill of Noddy with lots of illustration. Uttiya Gupta, a Class-VI student of Adamas International School , was ecstatic at the news.“This is great news. I am a big fan of Tintin and Asterix as well as Harry Potter. Now, I would love to study them in class. The classes will become super exciting,“ he said.“We welcome this move as children will immensely enjoy reading these during their classes. Not everything will be serious reading,“ said Nabarun De, principal, Central Model School, Baranagar.The CISCE, which was eager to have all its schools teach the same text up to class VIII, introduced its uniform syllabus for 2017-18 in Lucknow on Wednesday.If some schools fail to introduce the recommended texts in the coming academic session, they would be granted a year's extension, CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said on Wednesday.Besides prescribing the texts, the proposed curriculum stipulates that nursery students must spend 800 instructional hours per year in school.Similarly, students from Classes I to V must receive 900 hours of instruction every year in school and those in classes VI to VIII, 1000 hours of instruction respectively.The council already has syllabus books for Class IX to XII. Till now, many ICSE schools followed the NCERT syllabus for classes I to VIII while some others preferred a syllabus framed by the Inter State Board of Anglo Indian Education “The council received complaints that some schools were over-burdening their students in the absence of a definite curriculum,“ said a senior school official.