Coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted the students across the nation. Over the past three months, our education system has been criticized on various fronts, primarily in terms of infrastructural deficiencies.
From the loss of academic time to difficulties in final examinations and admissions in universities, it is ultimately the students who have been under constant pressure.
Schools and universities are closed across the nation, since March. School students, especially those coming from a modest background, do not have proper access to the resources required for remote learning, and the situation is not conducive for traditional classroom teaching.
In order to account for the loss in academic time due to the COVID pandemic, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman, Manoj Ahuja announced last month that the board would release a reduced syllabus for the academic year 2020-21.
CBSE Has Rationalized The Syllabus For Class IX to Class XII
In a press release, dated July 7, 2020, CBSE announced its decision to reduce the syllabus for secondary and senior secondary classes by up to 30%. According to the officials, they have retained the core concepts that are vital for learning.
The official notice states that if the topics so deleted are necessary for the understanding of other concepts, the teachers may discuss them in the classrooms. However, these will not be considered for internal assessments and final examinations.
The updated syllabus can be accessed on the official website.
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Why Is The Move Being Criticized?
While the students are lauding the move of syllabus reduction, the deletion of certain topics by the CBSE is facing criticism. The criticism is majorly in respect of the chapters deleted under political science.
The board has decided to completely delete the chapters on “Citizenship”, “Nationalism”, and “Secularism” under the political theory book for class XI. It has also deleted “Federalism”, “the need for local governments“, and “the growth of local governments in India“, under the book Indian Constitution at Work.
For class XII students, “Changing nature of India’s economic development“, “Planning Commission and Five-year Plans” are some of the topics amongst the deleted ones.
Apart from this, the board has deleted “Democracy and Diversity”, “Gender, Religion and Caste”, “Popular Struggles and Movements” and “Challenges to Democracy” for class X students and “Democratic Rights” for class IX students, under social sciences.
It is vital for students, the future of our nation, to learn about the fundamentals of every concept in order to develop a thorough understanding of the topic. The topics deleted by the CBSE are the fundamentals of democracy, and this does not seem justified.
Since the curriculum of CBSE is diverse, the officials could have made better choices of chapters for deletion. Being the citizens of a democratic country, the students should learn about the fundamentals of democracy which clearly is not going to happen this year.
Is it justified that students do not get to learn about these fundamentals at the secondary and senior secondary levels of education?
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Sources: Indian Express, The Hindu, Twitter
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This post is tagged under: CBSE, CBSE Schools, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal, Students, Coronavirus Pandemic, Education System, MHRD, Manoj Ahuja, Political Science, Social Sciences, Unjustified Move
