NCERT Textbook team members write: Curriculum has been rationalised for the times

Source: The post is based on the following articles

“We Don’t Get History. So, Let’s Not Study It” published in The Times of India on 24th April 2023.

“NCERT Textbook team members write: Curriculum has been rationalised for the times” published in the Indian Express on 24th April 2023.

Syllabus: GS – 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education.

Relevance: About the revision of NCERT textbooks.

News: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made 1,334 changes in 182 books to its syllabus for various classes.

About the present revision of NCERT textbooks

NCERT rationalisation exercise took place in 2020-2021. The NCERT took feedback from teachers from KVS and other schools and CBSE practitioners on the rationalised content across subject areas.

The details were made public for the benefit of schools in 2022-23. Schools accepted these changes and modified their curricula and assessment policies. After the books were released in the market for the year 2023-24.

What are the recent changes in the NCERT syllabus? 

What is the rationale behind the changes in NCERT textbooks?

Addressing the learning gaps created during the Covid pandemic: Various experts and committees, including the Parliament Standing Committee, have revealed that learning gaps have developed among students. Hence, to compensate for time loss and facilitate the speedy recovery in students’ learning curves a revision of NCERT textbooks is necessary.

What are the criteria used by NCERT for the recent revision of textbooks?

a) Removing the overlapping of content amongst different subjects in the same class, b) Removing similar content in the lower or higher class in the same subject, c) Enable content that is easily accessible to children and does not require much intervention from the teachers can be learned through self-learning or peer learning, d) Removing content that is not relevant in the present context and e) Reducing difficulty levels.

What is the response of the NCERT expert team to various media debates?

Allegations about deleting the Mughal period are wrong: Whatever is removed or rationalised has been included – either in the same subject in different classes or in a different subject in the same class. For example, the Class XII History textbook, “Themes in Indian History Part-II”, has another theme on the Mughals, ‘Peasant, Zamindars and the State, Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (16th and 17th centuries)’. This chapter covers important facets related to the society and economy of the medieval period. Similarly, the Class XI textbook, “Themes in World History” book refers to Babur, Akbar, and the construction of the Taj Mahal as well.

Changes are not politically motivated: The mention of Nathuram Godse’s caste in the Class XII History textbook was deemed inappropriate by the expert committee. The section “Controversies regarding Emergency” was also dropped.

The committee considered the developments related to the imposition of the Emergency, retained in the reprinted version, sufficient to give students the basic knowledge about the crisis of democratic order and abuse of power.

What are the areas missed in the recent revision of NCERT textbooks?

The Industrial Revolution is a key historical development, but it is not mentioned comprehensively. Similarly, today’s climate crisis is also not mentioned exhaustively.