Chapters on demonetisation, secularism, citizenship axed from CBSE syllabus to 'ease course load'

Another misunderstanding is that you can copy from your textbook, notes and other reference material. But that would qualify as plagiarism. Students are typically to find, interpret and apply the information in the sources, the UNSW said. (Representative Image)

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to drop chapters on citizenship, nationalism, secularism, democracy, gender, religion and caste from the syllabus of Classes 9 to 12. The move is aimed at reducing course load on students amid the COVID-19 crisis, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on July 7.

The chapters which gave Political Science students an introduction to the key socio-political constructs were earlier part of the CBSE syllabus, News18 reported.

For Class 11, chapters on citizenship, nationalism, secularism from 'Political Theory' topic have been completely deleted, while topics federalism, growth of local government in India has been omitted from the 'Indian Constitution at Work' topic.

Class 12 students will not be required to study chapters on demonetisation, planning commission, five-year plans, social movements in India and India’s relations with neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

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Similarly, for Class 10, complete chapters deleted from political science syllabus include democracy and diversity, gender, religion and caste, popular struggles and challenges to democracy.

"Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalise syllabus up to 30 percent by retaining the core concepts," Nishank tweeted on Tuesday.

Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize syllabus up to 30% by retaining the core concepts.@PMOIndia@HMOIndia@HRDMinistry@mygovindia@transformIndia@cbseindia29@mygovindia

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 7, 2020

"The heads of schools and teachers have been advised by the board to ensure that the 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," he said.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a nationwide lockdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. While the government has eased several restrictions, schools and colleges continue to remain closed.

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