×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

NCERT drops chapters on periodic table, democracy from class 10 books

The NCERT has called these omissions a “rationalisation” exercise
Last Updated 01 June 2023, 16:40 IST

Students in class 12 will now no longer learn about the politics of the Partition or about the Cold War Era, while students in class 10 will now no longer study about the Pythagoras theorem.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), as part of the sweeping changes to the school curriculum, has dropped chapters ‘Understanding Partition; (Politics, Memories,Experiences)’, ‘Cold War Era’ and the ‘US Hegemony in World Politics’ from the textbooks of class 12 students.

In the class 10 syllabus, the Pythagoras theorem has been dropped from the 'Triangles' chapter as well as from a chapter on ‘Sources of Energy’, while students in class 8 will not know about our ‘Criminal Justice System’ or come across the term ‘caste system’ in a chapter on called 'Confronting Marginalisation'.

‘Basic Geometrical Ideas’ such as triangles, quadrilaterals and circles will not be taught to children in class 6, and The Ghat of the Only World by Amitav Ghosh will no longer be taught as a supplementary text for students of the English language in class 12.

The NCERT has called these omissions a “rationalisation” exercise, and defended the move saying that it is meant to “reduce the content load on students in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise,” the NCERT has said in a booklet justifying its move.

Among a set of reasons why topics such as these have been dropped, the NCERT said that some of the content overlapped with similar content included in other subject areas in the same class, or the same content was included in the lower or higher class in the same subject. Some topics were removed for their difficulty level and some topics are easily accessible to students and they can learn about it themselves, while some content has become irrelevant.

The school curriculum body has been criticised from several quarters, notably from academics and experts, for these omissions. It has been reported that the periodic table has been dropped from class 10 science textbooks. Apart from that, Michael Faraday’s contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism, chapters on democracy and diversity, political parties, and challenges to democracy are gone too.

A month ago, it had emerged that the chapters about Mughal rulers, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, the Gujarat riots, and Darwin’s theory of evolution were dropped from various textbooks.

Former NCERT director Prof Krishna Kumar, however, said that these changes are neither “rational” nor “justifiable”. “There is no explanation for these bizarre changes. How will a teacher teach a student biology without the theory of evolution, or chemistry without the periodic table,” Prof Kumar said.

The move, however, found support from an RSS affiliate, the Shiksha Sanskriti Uthaan Nyaas. Atul Kothari, National Secretary of the body, told DH that some of these changes are part of the recommendations that it made to a committee headed by BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. “Some of the topics should have never been allowed. For instance, there were mentions of the word ‘Khalistani’ which was dropped recently, and in Hindi texts, there were some unconstitutional words used on the exploitation of women,” Kothari said.

The RSS has been insisting that the NEP be implemented across all schools. In his 2022 Vijayadashami speech, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that the NEP will lead to students becoming “highly cultured and good human beings” who are inspired by patriotism.

Here are some chapters that the NCERT has dropped from textbooks:

Class 6

Maths

Topics such as ‘Triangles’, ‘Quadrilaterals’, ‘Circles’ from the chapter ‘Basic Geometrical Ideas’

Science

A chapter on ‘Food: Where Does it Come From?’

Social and Political Life

A chapter on ‘Key Elements of a Democratic Government ‘

Class 7

Science

Chapter on ‘Weather, Climate and Adaptations of Animals to Climate’, ;Winds, Storms and Cyclones’, ‘Soil’, ‘Water: A Precious Resource’

Our Environment

A chapter on ‘Natural Vegetation and Wildlife?’

Class 8

Resources and Development

A chapter on ‘Mineral and Power Resource’

The topic ‘Cotton Textile Industry’ from a chapter on ‘Industries’

Social and Political Life II

A chapter on ‘Understanding our Criminal Justice System’

The mention of “the term... caste system” from the chapter ‘Confronting Marginalization’

Our Pasts II

A chapter on ‘India After Independence’

Class 9

Contemporary IndIa-I

Mentions of ‘The Indian Monsoon, the onset of the monsoon and withdrawal’ from the chapter ‘Climate’

Pointers about ‘population, age composition, sex ratio, literacy rates, occupational structure, health, NPP 2000 and adolescents’ from the chapter ‘Population’

Class 10

Maths

Mention of the ‘Pythagoras theorem’ from ‘Triangles’ chapter

Science

Chapters on ‘Sources of Energy’ and ‘Sustainable Management of Natural Resources’

Class 11

Chemistry

Chapters on ‘States of Matter: Gases and Liquids’, ‘Hydrogen’, ‘Elements’, ‘p-Block Elements’ and ‘Environmental Chemistry’

Indian Economic Development

Chapters on ‘Poverty’ and ‘Infrastructure’

Themes in WorLd history

Chapters on ‘Central Islamic Lands’ and ‘Industrial Revolution’

Supplementary text, English

The Ghat of the Only World by Amitav Ghosh

Class 11

Themes in Indian History–Part III

A chapter on ‘Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. Sixteen-Seventeenth Centuries)’

Class 12

Biology

Chapter on ‘Reproduction in Organisms’

Contemporary World Politics

Chapters on ‘The Cold War Era’ and ‘US Hegemony in World Politics’

Themes in Indian History – Part II

Chapter on ‘Understanding Partition; (Politics, Memories,Experiences)’

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 01 June 2023, 11:19 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT