Following the decision of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to axe some of the crucial topics from high school curriculum such as Citizenship, Nationalism & Secularism across multiple subjects, under the garb of ‘rationalising’ the syllabus, the Board has drawn strong criticism from various quarters.
Reacting strongly, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia expressed 'reservations and concern over the manner and content of the syllabus reduction' of classes 9 to 12 for the academic session 2020-21 and said, "The topics of Social Science which are dropped are so relevant in a contemporary context that it is important that children learn about it through authentic source rather than through 'Whatsapp University'.”
Meanwhile, CBSE has issued a clarification terming the decision as a "one-time measure" and said that it has cut down on a certain range of chapters and topics only for board examinations. Read the full clarification here.
In series of tweets, Tharoor while terming the deleting topics "vital", said, "One has to doubt the motives of those who selected the topics to drop. Have they decided democracy, diversity, secularism & the like are more dispensable concepts for tomorrow's Indian citizens? I urge the govt to rationalise the curriculum rather than strip it of civic values."
Echoing Tharoor’s sentiments, earlier on Wednesday, Banerjee, said, "Shocked to know that the central government has dropped topics like citizenship, federalism, secularism and Partition in the name of reducing CBSE course during the COVID-19 crisis."
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