Amid outrage and protests over the changes, the CBSE said the reduction or “rationalization” of syllabus for classes 9 to 12 had been “interpreted differently” and that it was a “one-time measure” to reduce the exam stress of students due to the health emergency and to prevent learning gaps.
The national education board was responding to criticism it faced after k ey chapters like Democratic Rights, Food Security in India, Federalism, Citizenship and Secularism have been dropped from school courses to reduce the burden on students amid the coronavirus crisis.
“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 portrayed as deleted have been covered under alternative academic calendar which is already in force for all the affiliated schools of the board,” Tripathi said.
On Tuesday, the board had notified that it rationalised by up to 30 per cent the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the academic year 2020-21 to reduce course load on students amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“The reduction of syllabus from classes 9 to 12 has been interpreted differently. Contrary to some of the impressions being created, it is clarified that the rationalisation of syllabus up to 30 per cent has been undertaken for nearly 190 subjects for the academic session 2020-21 as a one-time measure only,” CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathi said.