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'.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor are among others who have reacted to CBSE’s decision which was taken in accordance with MHRD. While Banerjee has said that she is ‘shocked’, Tharoor called the deleted chapters ‘vital’.
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.
“I am hopeful that CBSE must have very good reasons for dropping those topics other than saying that ‘reduction in classroom teaching due to closure of schools’ requires reduction and hence randomly some topics have been dropped.”Manish Sisodia, Deputy CM & Education Ministry, Delhi
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."
“We strongly object to this and appeal to the HRD Ministry, Government of India, to ensure these vital lessons aren’t curtailed at any cost.”Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal CM
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