On CBSE lines, Rajasthan plans reduction in school syllabus
‘Cong spreading false narrative on CBSE syllabus’
JAIPUR: After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced a 30% reduction in the school syllabus, the Rajasthan government has directed the two agencies tasked with framing of the syllabus to review and suggest if modification or reduction is needed.
“This year because of the coronavirus, the working days in schools have reduced. So the school education department has instructed the two agencies that frame our syllabus to review it and suggest if there is a need for reduction,” school education minister Govind Singh Dotasara said on Friday.
Central Board of Secondary Education announced a 30% reduction in the syllabus of classes 9 to 12 for this academic year owing to the disruption of the school calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“RBSE (Rajasthan Board Of Secondary Education) issues an academic calendar each year mentioning the working days in that year. The calendar for this year has not yet been issued and there has been a reduction in working days because of the coronavirus outbreak, so we need to review the syllabus,” Dotasara said.
RBSE will review the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 while the Rajasthan State Council of Education Research and Training (RSCERT) will review the syllabus for classes 1 to 8.
The minister said the two agencies will decide if the syllabus can be completed by taking extra classes or some portions of the syllabus need to be reduced to finish it within the academic year.
The current academic session has been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Schools have been shut since the lockdown was imposed on March 23.
The reduced working days have left schools struggling to complete the syllabus.
“We will see what best option can be worked out for schools so that students are not affected,” Dotasara said.
Asked if any part of the syllabus that was introduced during the BJP government would be modified, Dotasara said no topics that could create a controversy will be touched.
In the last academic session from July 2019 to March 2020, there were 207 working days. In July last year, there were 27 working days.
However this year schools are still shut. In case schools remain shut in August and beyond that, it will mean a further reduction in working days and the department will be forced to reduce the syllabus.
Asked about the controversy over reduction of portion on Maharana Pratap in the Class 10 textbooks, Dotasara said there was no change and the books were the same that were being taught over the last one-and-a-half years and unnecessary fuss was being kicked up.
“There were some errors in the e-textbook which has been removed from the Rajasthan Board Of Secondary Educationwebsite and action will be taken against the person who wrongly translated the text,” the minister said.
JAIPUR: BJP MLA and former education minister Vasudev Devnani has defended the CBSE decision to bring about a 30% reduction in the school syllabus, saying the Congress instead of spreading a false narrative should introspect.
“The reduction in the syllabus was the only option in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The only aim was to reduce the load on students who are under stress,” Devnani tweeted.
CBSE has dropped topics such as democratic rights, federalism, citizenship, secularism, among others, from the school syllabus which invited criticism from the Congress and other opposition parties as well as some academicians.
In a series of tweets, Devnani said the Congress and Left and their supporters are trying to spread a false narrative on reduction of some topics in the syllabus based on incomplete facts and their intention was to spread lies by resorting to sensationalism.
“The Congress and the Left have made misleading comments on subjects such as nationalism, secularism, democratic rights and citizenship. These are the same parties which have indulged in politics of appeasement in the name of secularism and have given rise to secessionist thought,” he said.
“The Congress and Left opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act and have always suppressed democratic rights. The spirit of federalism has never been accepted by the Congress, Left and Mamata Banerjee. Their aim has always been to mislead youth and incite them against nationalism. ”
Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said the CBSE has removed those topics which are important for the youth to learn about. “They should know our constitutional values and the system of governance. But these have been dropped inexplicably.”
Sharma said the BJP had acknowledged that demonetisation was a failure.