Rationalisation of textbooks done for speedy recovery, compensating time loss due to Covid: MoE

Concerns related to curriculum load including content load spread over syllabi and textbooks have also been raised

The NCERT took a step towards rationalisation of school textbooks to facilitate speedy recovery in students learning continuum and compensate for time loss due to prolonged school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi said on Monday.

Devi made the statement in response to a written question in the Lok Sabha.

"During the Covid-19 pandemic situation, students across the stages of school education have struggled a lot to continue their learning through online and other modes. Also, concerns related to curriculum load including the content load spread over syllabi and textbooks have been raised from different corners," she said.

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"Further, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 states that the reduction in content and increased flexibility of school curriculum and the renewed emphasis on constructive rather than rote learning must be accompanied by parallel changes in school textbooks. With a view to facilitate speedy recovery in students learning continuum and compensating time loss, NCERT took a step towards the rationalisation of textbooks across the stages and subject areas," Devi added.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had last month removed portions about the 2002 Gujarat riots, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement and Mughal courts from its Class 12 textbooks, among other subjects, as part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise.

"Overlapping with similar content included in other subject area in the same class; similar content included in the lower or higher class in same subject ; difficulty level; content, which is easily accessible to children and does not require much intervention from the teachers and can be learned through self-learning or peer learning; content, which is not relevant in the present context or outdated and taking care of the learning outcomes already developed across the classes, are among the criteria adopted for rationalisation of the content load," the minister said.