Content on the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Mughal rule in India and the nationwide Emergency imposed in 1975 are among the texts dropped by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, or NCERT, from its textbooks.
In a note released on Thursday, the NCERT said that the revision was part of “rationalistion of contents in textbooks”. Changes have been made to textbooks for Classes 6 to Classes 12.
A reference to the Gujarat riots from the chapter “Recent Developments in Indian Politics” has been removed from Class 12 Political Science curriculum, according to the NCERT note.
“Gujarat riots show that the government machinery also becomes susceptible to sectarian passions,” a paragraph from the removed chapter stated, according to The Indian Express. “Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics.”
An entire chapter titled “Kings and Chronicles: the Mughal Courts (C. Sixteen-Seventeenth Centuries)” has also been dropped from the Class 12 History syllabus.
From the Political Science textbook, one page on the history of the Naxal movement, and four pages on “Controversies regarding Emergency” have also been dropped, according to The Indian Express.
Other content removed from the Class 12 syllabus include excerpts on the Cold War and “US Hegemony in World Politics”.
From the Class 11 history textbook, a chapter titled “Central Islamic lands” and another named “The Industrial Revolution” have been dropped.
In its note, the NCERT said that the changes were made due to the coronavirus pandemic and the National Education Policy 2020.
“In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content load on students,” it said. “The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset.”
The other reasons cited are overlapping with similar text, irrelevant content and difficulty level.
The revision came two months after excerpts of two of Faiz’s poems were removed from Class 10 Social Science textbook in the 2022-’23 curriculum of the Central Board of Secondary Education.
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