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‘Uninformed commentary, sensationalism’: HRD Minister on controversy over reduced CBSE syllabus

Amid controversy around exclusion of certain topics from the CBSE syllabus, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Thursday said there has been an “uninformed commentary” to portray a false narrative.

“There has been a lot of uninformed commentary on the exclusion of some topics from CBSE Syllabus. The problem with these comments is that they resort to sensationalism by connecting topics selectively to portray a false narrative,” Nishank said in a statement. 

The comments by the HRD Minister came following a controversy over up to 30% reduction of the syllabus by the CBSE due to the COVID-19 situation. Chapters on India’s democracy, plurality and federalism have been dropped from the political science subject, with the Opposition alleging that this was done to propagate a particular ideology.

Earlier, the CBSE said that the topics being mentioned as dropped are either being covered by the rationalised syllabus or in the alternative academic calendar of NCERT. 

Nishank reiterated the CBSE stand and said, “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.”

He said the only aim is to relax the stress on students by reducing the syllabus by 30%. 

“This exercise has been carried out following the advice & recommendations of various experts and considering the suggestions received from educationists through our #SyllabusForStudents2020 campaign,” the minister said. 

“While it is easy to misconstrue exclusion of 3-4 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 added, 

He noted topics excluded from subjects like economics mathematics, physics and biology to make his point. 

“It is our humble request: Education is our sacred duty towards our children. Let us leave politics out of education and make our politics more educated,” Nishank said. 

CBSE had on Wednesday released a press note clarifying the rationale behind the reduction in the syllabus. 

“It has come to notice of the Board through a section of media reports that the Board’s notification issued on 07.07.2020 regarding reduction/rationalization of syllabus from classes 9th to 12th has been interpreted differently,” the board said. 

Clarifying further, it said, “The rationalization of syllabus up to 30% has been undertaken by the Board for nearly 190 subjects of class IX to XII for the academic session 2020-21 as a one-time measure only. The objective is to reduce the exam stress of students due to the prevailing health emergency situation and prevent learning gaps.”

The Board said that no question shall be asked from the reduced syllabus in the Board Exams 20-21 only. 

“The schools have also been directed to follow the Alternative Academic Calendar prepared by NCERT for transacting the curriculum. Therefore, each of the topics that have been wrongly mentioned in media as deleted have been covered under Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT which is already in force for all the affiliated schools of the Board,” it added. 

Source: dnaindia.com