HRD Minister tells netas opposing CBSE's syllabus to 'get educated'; exposes selectiveness

Union HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Thursday hit back at the critics who criticized CBSE's move to reduce its syllabus for class 9 to 12 for academic session 2020-2021 by up to 30% which included important concepts. Topics like secularism, citizenship, nationalism, demonetisation and democratic rights as the chapters dealing with these subjects, along with several other chapters, have been dropped from the syllabus in light of the Covid outbreak's impact on education.

'These comments resort to sensationalism'

Pokhriyal took to Twitter and said that there has been a lot of uninformed commentary on the exclusion of some topics from CBSE Syllabus. "The problem with these comments is that they resort to sensationalism by connecting topics selectively to portray a false narrative," he said.

The minister reiterated that as the CBSE has clarified, schools have been advised to follow the NCERT Alternate Academic Calendar, and all the topics mentioned have been covered under the same Academic Calendar. "The exclusions are merely a 1-time measure for exams, due to the COVID-19 pandemic," he stated.

'Leave politics out of education'

The HRD Minister said "While it is easy to misconstrue exclusion of 3-4 topics like nationalism, local government, federalism, etc. and build a concocted narrative," a wider perusal of different subjects will show that this exclusion is happening across subjects. Pokhriyal in the following tweets gave examples of chapters which have been excluded from Biology, Maths and Economics to assert his point.

The HRD Minister appealed saying "It is our humble request. Education is our sacred duty towards our children. Let us leave politics out of education and make our politics more educated."

'We strongly object to this'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised her objections on Centre Board of Secondary Education's decision to remove certain chapters from the syllabus Wednesday. 

Attacking the Central Government and Human Resource Development Ministry on Twitter, the CM said, "Shocked to know that the Central Govt has dropped topics like Citizenship, Federalism, Secularism and Partition in the name of reducing CBSE course during COVID Crisis. We strongly object to this and appeal HRD Ministry, GoI to ensure these vital lessons aren't curtailed at any cost."

The move by CBSE's has also been opposed by Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other Congress leaders.

READ | CBSE drops Nationalism, citizenship & demonetisation chapters in revised syllabus due to Covid

READ | Delhi DyCM asks CBSE to give 'very strong' reasons for dropping chapters from curriculum

CBSE issues clarification 

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday clarified that "each of the topics that have been wrongly mentioned in media as deleted have been covered under the alternative academic calendar of NCERT." In a statement, the board also said that rationalization has been "interpreted differently". 

"The schools have also been directed to follow the Alternative Academic Calendar prepared by NCERT for transacting the curriculum. Therefore, each of the topics that have been wrongly mentioned in media as deleted has been covered under Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT which is already in force for all the affiliated schools of the Board," the official statement by the CBSE read.

READ | Post row, CBSE says revised syllabus being 'interpreted differently'; clarifies stand

READ | 'We object this:' Mamata Banerjee against CBSE's removal of 'vital lessons' from syllabus

(With agency inputs)