Lessons CBSE deleted from syllabi: Secularism, gender, caste, democratic rights

Education

These lessons have been trimmed out of the syllabus as part of the decision to rationalise 30 percent of the syllabus to reduce the course load on students amid the pandemic.

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The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday announced that 30 percent of the syllabus for Classes 9 to Classes 12 will be reduced in order to make up for the loss of days due to COVID-19 pandemic and reduce the course load. The board released a document mentioning the deleted portions from the syllabus, and notably, lessons on democratic rights, gender, religion and caste, food security in India, etc, are some of the chapters that will be omitted. 
For Class 9, from the History textbook, parts of chapters on Livelihoods, Economies and Societies will be removed. Complete chapters on Forest Society and Colonialism as well as Pastoralists in the Modern World will be removed. In Geography, chapters on drainage (except for maps) and on Population will be removed. In Political Science, a chapter called ‘Democratic Constitution in South Africa’ and a full chapter on Democratic Rights has been removed. The chapter on Food Security in India is also no longer part of the Class 9 syllabus.
For Class 10, from the History syllabus, the lessons on ‘Everyday Life, Culture and Politics’ and ‘Print Culture and the Modern World’ have been removed. In Geography, the chapters ‘Forest and Wildlife,’ ‘Water Resources’ and ‘Mineral and Energy Resources’ have been partially omitted, and only maps will be part of the examination.
From the Political Science Syllabus, full chapters on ‘Democracy and Diversity,’ ‘Gender, Religion and Caste, ‘Popular Struggles and Movements’ and the ‘Challenges to Democracy’ will be removed. 
For Class 11, lessons on ‘Social Structure, Stratification And Social Processes In Society’ and ‘Environment and Society’ will be removed from the Social Sciences syllabus and for Class 12, ‘The Story of Indian Democracy,’ ‘Globalisation and Social Change’ and ‘Mass Media and Communication’ will not be a part of the syllabus.
From the Class 11 political science syllabus, complete chapters called ‘Citizenship’, ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Secularism’ have been marked as completely deleted. From the Class 12 syllabus, ‘Social and New Social Movements in India,’ has been removed.
The CBSE released a list of all the chapters across subjects that will form part of the 30 percent to be removed from the syllabus for these classes, but the removal of lessons on democracy and rights in India has drawn attention on social media.

Democratic Rights, Secularism & other chapters dropped from school courses:

What else to expect from a regime headed by someone claiming to have a degree in ‘entire political science’? Sheer hypocrisy of self-proclaimed Constitution-bhakts is staggering!https://t.co/qGuJOvVuTn
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 8, 2020

You’d think those were pretty important chapters when discussing political science? https://t.co/tI5Rc4reNr
— Doctor Roshan R (@pythoroshan) July 8, 2020

What about Democracy? https://t.co/mBNVrMoQsN
— Akash Banerjee (@TheDeshBhakt) July 7, 2020

Remove the chapter on democracy too and be done with it https://t.co/Gc0kkIT3No
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) July 8, 2020

This is ridiculous and all kinds of wrong. You CANNOT tamper with education! https://t.co/9Qmu4T3wtq
— Sayani Gupta (@sayanigupta) July 7, 2020

CBSE had stated in a release on Tuesday that while these courses will not be examined, the heads of schools and teachers have been asked to ensure that the topics that have been reduced are also explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics. The CBSE added that the changes made in the syllabus have been finalised by the respective course committees, with the approval of the curriculum committee and the governing body of the board.
Also read: CBSE reduces syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 by 30 percent