Many students across the country have not been able to go to school due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and have taken advantage of the virtual classroom facility to resume classes. Nonetheless, it has had a significant effect on academics.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was asked by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to reduce the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 by 30%.
“Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize the syllabus up to 30 percent by retaining the core concepts,” the HRD minister wrote in a tweet. “Looking at the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world, #CBSE was advised to revise the curriculum and reduce course load for the students of Class 9th to 12th,” said the HRD Minister.
As part of this move, the CBSE has decided to scrap chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, and secularism from the political science curriculum of Class 11 and topics of India’s relation with its neighbors, along with sections on social movements, regional aspirations, the changing nature of India’s economic development, and the Planning Commission for Class 12.
The concept of demonetization, Goods and Services Tax, and the impact of government policy changes on business with special reference to liberalization, privatization and globalization in India will be removed for Business Studies students.
In History, students will not study chapters on understanding partition, or on peasants, zamindars, and the State.
Besides, sub-topics such as ‘Why do we need Local Governments?’ and ‘Growth of Local Government in India’ have also been scrapped. However, teachers are recommended to explain these topics for the relevance of existing topics.
“However, the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for Internal Assessment and year-end Board Examination,” said CBSE in an official statement.