The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) recently announced its decision to drop some crucial chapters and excerpts from its history and political science syllabus, as per reports. To no one’s surprise, major chunks that are being proposed to be deleted from class 12 history textbooks contain key information and details about the Mughal Empire.
The Uttar Pradesh government has also reportedly declared that its schools will adopt the updated history syllabus, which excludes portions like ‘Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries)’.
Last year, NCERT engaged in a "syllabus rationalisation" exercise and removed certain portions from the syllabus, citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, as per reports. Many of these changes were made in early 2022 when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) rationalised its syllabi in April. In addition to CBSE-affiliated schools, some state boards also use NCERT textbooks.