HRD Minister tweets decision in big relief for parents, students
A day after setting the academic standards of higher education for current academic session, the HRD Ministry on Tuesday directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reduce its syllabus from Class 9 to 12 for academic session 2020-2021 by up to 30 per cent in order to make up for academic loss amid novel coronavirus pandemic.
While State Education boards will take their own calls in framing the syllabus of the school education within their jurisdiction, another pan-India board, ICSE, which has affiliated schools across the country, last week announced reducing its syllabus by 50 per cent for the current academic year.
“Looking at the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world, CBSE was advised to revise the curriculum and reduce course load for the students of Class 9th to 12th,” HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal took to Twitter to announce this decision, which came as a big relief for the schools, students, parents and all other stakeholders of secondary education.
The academic syllabus for primary section was already announced by the Ministry early this month.
The reduction in the syllabus will be in terms of retaining the core concepts, the HRD Minister added.
“Considering the importance of achieving the level of learning, the syllabus has been rationalised to the extent possible by retaining the core concepts,” CBSE said.
The board also mentioned that the heads of schools and teachers may ensure that the topics that have been reduced are also explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics.
“However, the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for Internal Assessment and year-end Board Examination,” the statement read.
Alternative Academic Calendar and inputs from the NCERT on transacting the curriculum using different strategies may also be part of the teaching pedagogy.
Pokhriyal also added that he had received more than 1,500 suggestions from educationists across the country on the reduction of the syllabus under the hashtag #SyllabusForStudents2020.
According to CBSE officials, the comprehensive curriculum is aimed at ensuring online well-being of students and preparing them for the future of work.
Earlier, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the educational board had told the Supreme Court that the pending board examinations for Class 10 and 12, which were scheduled to take place from 1-15 July, were now cancelled. The education board said that it would conduct the remaining exams when the conditions become conducive.