CBSE revises syllabus for class 9-12, axes chapters on India’s foreign policy, demonetisation

CBSE cites Covid pandemic to reduce syllabus. Revision excludes chapters on democracy and caste for Class 10 students, and secularism from Class 12 political science among others.

Students in a classroom (Representational image) | Flickr

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has revised its syllabus for students of Classes 9 to 12 in the wake of Covid-19, leaving out topics such as federalism, nationalism and secularism from Class 11 political science books, and other topics like India’s relations with its neighbours from Class 12 political science books. 

For the Class 10 political science syllabus, which falls under Social Science, complete chapters on ‘Democracy and Diversity’, ‘Gender, Religion and Caste’, ‘Popular Struggles and Movements’, and ‘Challenges to Democracy’ have been deleted. 

The changes will be applicable to students of the 2020-21 batch. 

Among other topics, CBSE has removed demonetisation from Class 12 business studies books. There has been deletion of chapters and reduction of topics in almost all of the subjects. For science subjects, practical portions have also been reduced. 

ThePrint had earlier reported that the Ministry of Human Resource Development had asked the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to reduce the syllabus for students from Class 10 to 12, as the lockdown had eaten into the school year. 

The ministry released the revised syllabus Tuesday. 

‘Syllabus reduced by 30%’

The changes are the result of the suggestions submitted by the NCERT to CBSE in June. 

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank Tuesday said that the syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 has been reduced by 30 per cent. 

“Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalise syllabus up to 30 percent by retaining the core concepts,” he tweeted. 

?Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize syllabus up to 30% by retaining the core concepts.@PMOIndia @HMOIndia @HRDMinistry @mygovindia @transformIndia @cbseindia29 @mygovindia

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 7, 2020

 

The CBSE also issued a press statement, citing the pandemic for the syllabus revision.

“The revision of syllabi is a measure taken due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and in different parts of the world. Considering the importance of achieving the level of learning, the syllabus has been rationalised to the extent possible by retaining the core concepts,” it said. 

The board also said that it has asked the heads of schools to ensure that the topics that have been left out are explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics. The reduced syllabus will, however, not be part of the topics for Internal Assessment and year-end board examinations. 

Chapters on the chopping block

According to the syllabus uploaded by CBSE on its official website, among other topics, Class 12 students will not study “Impact of government policy changes on business with special reference to liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation in India” in Business Studies. 

In Class 12 political science syllabus, topics on India’s foreign policy among others have been removed. Students won’t be studying — “India’s Relations with its Neighbours: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar,” this year. 

Among other subjects, the complete chapter on “Environmental Chemistry”  has been deleted from Class 11 Chemistry books.