After criticism, the Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has taken the social media to explain the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decision to reduce the syllabus by 30% for the 2020-21 academic year.
The CBSE’s syllabus announcement and the list of topics culled came on July, 7 and immediately invited intense criticism for dropping topics such as federalism, democracy, secularism, international relations and others from the social science syllabuses of Classes 9 to 12.
A group of academics called the CBSE’s decision and choice of topics “ideologically driven”.
Pokhriyal dismissed such criticism as uninformed commentary and suggested the critics leave politics out of education.
Also read: HRD Ministry curtains CBSE syllabus for next session
He wrote on social media: “There has been a lot of uninformed commentary on the exclusion of some topics from #CBSESyllabus. The problem with these comments is that they resort to sensationalism by connecting topics selectively to portray a false narrative.” He said that the aim was to reduce stress on students. “While it is easy to misconstrue exclusion of three-four topics like nationalism, local government, federalism, etc. and build a concocted narrative, a wider perusal of different subjects will show that this exclusion is happening across subjects,” he wrote.
The HRD minister went on to repeat what the CBSE had said in a clarification issued on July 8. He said: “CBSE has clarified, schools have been advised to follow the #NCERT Alternate Academic Calendar, and all the topics mentioned have been covered under the same Academic Calendar. The exclusions are merely a 1-time measure for exams, due to the #COVID19 pandemic”.
As @cbseindia29 has clarified, schools have been advised to
follow the #NCERT Alternate Academic Calendar, and all the topics mentioned have been covered under the same Academic Calendar. The exclusions are merely a 1-time measure for exams, due to the #COVID19 pandemic.— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 9, 2020
