The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made further exclusions as part of its ‘syllabus rationalisation’ exercise. The Class 12 political science book for the new academic year is missing texts on Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu-Muslim unity, and the RSS ban. ‘Gandhiji’s death had a magical effect on communal situation in the country,’ ‘Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists,’ and ‘Organisations like RSS were banned for some time’ are among the texts missing from the book. The NCERT claims that no curriculum trimming has taken place this year, and the syllabus was rationalized in June last year.
Last year, as part of its ‘syllabus rationalisation’ exercise, the NCERT dropped certain portions from the course, including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others, from its textbooks. The rationalisation note had no mention of excerpts about Mahatma Gandhi. ‘The entire rationalisation exercise was done last year, there is nothing new which has happened this year,’ said NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani. He did not comment on the missing excerpts which went unannounced at the time of rationalisation.
According to a note by the NCERT on its website, ‘In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was felt imperative to reduce the content load on students. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with a creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT had undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes and all subjects.’ The present textbooks are rationalised textbooks, and these were rationalised for the session 2022-23 and will continue in 2023-24.
Among the reasons cited behind the choice of dropped subjects during rationalisation is content based on genres of literature in the textbooks and supplementary readers at different stages of school education. The NCERT dropped subjects to reduce the curriculum load and exam stress in view of the prevailing condition of the pandemic. Subjects that are easily accessible to students without much intervention from teachers and can be learned by children through self-learning or peer learning and content that is ‘irrelevant’ in the present context were also dropped from the curriculum.
An official from the education ministry, who did not wish to be identified, said the new curriculum framework as per the New Education Policy is still being worked out, and the new textbooks as per the updated curriculum will only be introduced from the 2024 academic session.
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