CBSE slashes syllabus by 30%; deleted chapters include secularism, nationalism, GST, foreign relations, citizenship, democracy, federalism

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) slashed the syllabi for Classes 9 to 12 by, at least, 30 percent to make up for the days lost in academic year 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But it is the chapters on key socio-political principles like secularism, citizenship, nationalism, and democratic rights that have been removed to lighten the burden on students. The chapter on citizenship, a subject that made headlines and prime time TV debates just before the pandemic hit following the passage of Citizenship Amendment Act, explored the concept in contemporary times. Portions of the chapter dealt with “the relationship between citizens and the nation and the criteria of citizenship adopted in different countries,” along with concepts like “stateless people,” “global citizenship” and “national citizenship.”  News18 reported. Likewise, important discussions on caste and gender identities have also been making news in the current times but sections concerning those ideals have also been slashed. Another topic dropped in the rationalisation process is “federalism” which was part of Indian Constitution At Work textbook. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) notified the new syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the 2020-21 academic session on Wednesday after rationalising up to 30 percent of the curriculum. According to the updated curriculum, the chapters deleted from the Class 10 syllabus are those dealing with democracy and diversity, gender, religion and caste, popular struggles and movement and challenges to democracy. For Class 11, the deleted portions include the chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism and growth of local governments in India.

Similarly, Class 12 students will not be required to study the chapters on India’s relations with its neighbours – Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, the changing nature of India’s economic development, social movements in India and demonetisation, among others.

The government, however, said the decision was taken after consultation with school heads and teachers. According to Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry officials, the syllabus has been rationalised to reduce the burden on students but the core concepts have been retained. “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 classes 9 to 12. To aid the decision, a few weeks back I also invited suggestions from all educationists on the reduction of syllabus for students and I am glad to share that we received more than 1.5K suggestions. Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming response,” HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank tweeted. “The loss of instructional time for a proportionate reduction in the curriculum load for exams was assessed. Accordingly, the course committee of the board had initiated the work on the reduced syllabus. Suggestions were invited from various stakeholders,” PTI quoted officials in HRD ministry as saying. “Heads of schools and teachers have been advised by the board to ensure that the topics that have been reduced are explained to the students to the extent required. However, the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for the internal assessment and the year-end board examination,” a senior CBSE official told the news agency. Universities and schools across the country have been closed since 16 March, when the Centre announced a nationwide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. A nationwide lockdown was announced on 24 March, which came into effect the next day. While the government has eased several restrictions, the schools and colleges continue to remain closed. With inputs from PTI