The Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been reduced by 30% for the academic year 2020-21 due to Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

Although, the core concepts will be retained, which means that the class 11 students of political science will not study about federalism in the Constitution this year. Political theory sections on citizenship, secularism and nationalism have also been removed.

For class 11 students, the CBSE syllabus for the English course will not include exercises to write a letter to the editor, or apply for a job with a resume.

While for class 12, the topic of India’s relations with its neighbours have been deleted, along with sections on social movements, regional aspirations, the changing nature of India’s economic development, and the Planning Commission. Business Studies students will not study the concept of demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax, or the impact of government policy changes on business with special reference to liberalization, privatization and globalization in India. In History, students will not study chapters on understanding partition, or on peasants, zamindars and the State.

For class 10 students, social science chapter on forests and wildlife in contemporary India has been deleted, along with chapters on democracy and diversity; gender, religion and caste; popular struggles and movements; and, challenges to democracy. In science, the chapter on the functioning of the human eye has been removed, along with a section on the basic concepts of evolution. Practical experiments that will be harder to conduct as students won’t be able to spend much time in the laboratory have been removed. This includes tests on acetic acid, mounting a leaf peel, and studying the comparative cleaning capacity of soap in hard and soft water.

An official statement said that the CBSE has advised school principals and teachers to ensure that “topics that have been reduced are also explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics. However the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for Internal Assessment and year-end Board Examination.”

Source: The Hindu

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