With the Covid-19 pandemic disrupting the academic calendar, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to reduce the syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 by 30% to ease the burden on students. The development comes on the heels of the CISCE also announcing a reduction in syllabus for secondary and senior secondary students by 25%.
Reduction in Curriculum
While announcing the revised curriculum for the session 2020-21, the CBSE cited the spread of Covid and the resulting loss of classroom teaching as reasons. The revised curriculum has been finalised by the respective course committees with the final approval given by the Governing Body of the Board. The rationalization of syllabus is a one time measure only. Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a classroom shutdown as a measure to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
Schools have been informed that teachers should explain the reduced syllabus to the extent required to connect different topics, but while reduced topics are to be explained, they will not be a part of the internal assessment or of the course material for the year-end board exams. For elementary classes (I to VIII), schools may follow the alternative academic calendar and learning outcomes specified by NCERT.
Within the subject of social studies, for class X, ‘forests and wildlife’ will not be taught in Geography this year; in political science, ‘democracy and diversity’, ‘gender, religion and caste’, ‘popular struggles and movements and challenges to democracy’, have got the boot. In history, ‘Understanding partition’ for class XII, and ‘confrontation of cultures’ for class XI, have been removed. The Board reiterated that the topics which are being mentioned as dropped are either being covered by the rationalized syllabus or the alternative academic calendar of NCERT.
