Mamata Banerjee opposes CBSE’s move to drop subjects like Citizenship, Secularism
8 July, 2020 | newsx bureau
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee firmly objected to crucial political and historical sections from school-going children's literature being 'rationalised.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly objected to ‘rationalisation’ of key political and historical chapters from the books of school-going children. She has asked the central government and HRD Ministry to reconsider their decision.
Several other politicians have condemned this reduction including Congress leader Mr Shashi Tharoor and his colleague Mr Jairam Ramesh. The decision was announced on Tuesday by HRD Minister Mr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and the revised syllabus was put up on the official CBSE website in the evening.
In an effort to rationalize the syllabus for classes 9th to 12th, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has entirely deleted chapters on Citizenship, Nationalism, Secularism, and Understanding Partition & Democratic Rights.
Shocked to know that the Central Govt has dropped topics like Citizenship, Federalism, Secularism & Partition in the name of reducing CBSE course during #COVIDCrisis.
We strongly object to this & appeal @HRDMinistry, GoI to ensure these vital lessons aren't curtailed at any cost. https://t.co/pkBaVI4VKM— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 8, 2020
1/3 I was going to congratulate @DrRPNishank on reducing the CBSE students' course-load, till i saw what they're deleting: https://t.co/DQKboUeJ6k
So children of Std.X will no longer learn about 'democracy &diversity', 'gender, religion &caste', 'popular struggles& movements'…— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 8, 2020
3/3 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.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 8, 2020
Also Read: CBSE to reduce syllabus by 30% for Class 9th to 12th: HRD Minister
Also Read: Delhi schools to remain shut till July 31 due to Covid-19
This measure has been taken to cope with the loss of study time during ongoing pandemic Covid-19 since schools have been suspended since March 24. It was observed that the syllabus would be practically impossible to complete via online classesOn Tuesday, CBSE announced a 30% reduction in the syllabi of classes 9-12, specifically for the 20-21 batch due to the “extraordinary situation” the world is facing at the moment.
CBSE has now issued an official statement clarifying its stance. Take a look:
#cbseforstudents#students @DrRPNishank @OfficeOfSDhotre @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts pic.twitter.com/MP37Veexuu
— CBSE HQ (@cbseindia29) July 8, 2020
Five important chapters on Democratic Rights from Social Science subject of Class 9 have been entirely scrapped off from the curriculum.
Class 10th’s curriculum saw various important science chapters and major SST chapters removed; namely Democracy and Diversity, Gender Religion and Caste and Popular Struggles and Movements.
Key political concepts that make the base of a humanities stream student have been deleted from the syllabus of Class 11. Some of these include Federalism, Secularism and Citizenship. History chapters like Early Societies are also not part of the syllabus anymore.
A Major reduction in syllabus is seen in the class 12 curriculum as complete chapters on important political history have been scrapped off. 5-year plans, India’s relations with its neighbours, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar and regional aspirations have been removed from Political Science. In Physics, Davission-Germer experiment, Radioactivity and Carbon resistors have been eliminated. The chapters and topics that talk about Colonialism and Partition in India have been removed from History subject of class 12.
CBSE Deletions in Syllabus. Class XII deletions below ?? India’s relations with neighbours, colonialism, understanding Partition, new social movements, Planning Commission, Demonetisation – all nixed. @Iftikharfariha reports pic.twitter.com/HC2hRMMdhg
— Seema Chishti (@seemay) July 8, 2020
The @cbseindia29 board assured students in reduction of syllabus by 30%. Chapters that deal with the very pillars on which India stands have been removed, hereby destroying India's foundation. The CBSE wants to alter history based on WhatsApp forwards.https://t.co/ECGVXCCyTx
— NSUI (@nsui) July 8, 2020