New Delhi: The periodic table and democracy are the latest topics to take a hit in NCERT's 'syllabus rationalisation' process.
Class 10 students in the CBSE board will no longer have to study the periodic table, democracy, and sources of energy in their NCERT textbooks. The latest move comes after the removal of the theory of evolution from curriculum.
The NCERT website states that it is imperative to reduce 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, the NCERT said.
The political science text book has also dropped several chapters on democracy.
Dropping several topics and portions from the NCERT textbooks had last month triggered a controversy with the Opposition blaming the Centre of "whitewashing with vengeance".
At the heart of the row was the fact that while the changes made as part of the rationalisation exercise were notified, some of these controversial deletions weren't mentioned in them. This led to allegations about a bid to delete these portions surreptitiously.
The NCERT had described the omissions as a possible oversight but refused to undo the deletions, saying they were based on the recommendations of experts. It has also said the textbooks are anyway headed for revision in 2024 when the National Curriculum Framework kicks in.
However, later NCERT had changed its stand and said "minor changes need not be notified".
Among the references that were dropped from class 12 history textbook were certain portions on Mahatma Gandhi and how his pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity "provoked Hindu extremists", and on a ban on the RSS.
The portions referring to Gujarat riots were also dropped from class 11 sociology textbook, months after NCERT removed the reference to the 2022 communal violence in two class 12 textbook.