New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has rationalised the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the academic year 2020-21 by up to 30 per cent to make up for academic loss caused due to COVID-19, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on Tuesday.
"Looking at the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world, CBSE was advised to revise the curriculum and reduce course load for the students of classes 9 to 12.
"To aid the decision, a few weeks back I also invited suggestions from all educationists on the reduction of syllabus for students and I am glad to share that we received more than 1.5K suggestions. Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming response," Nishank tweeted.
"Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize syllabus up to 30 per cent by retaining the core concepts," he added.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) had earlier announced a reduction of up to 25 per cent in syllabus for classes 10 and 12 board exams in 2021.
The board directed its schools to ensure that the subject teachers concerned at the ICSE and ISC levels transact the syllabus strictly according to the sequence of topics given in the syllabus, so as to facilitate further reduction in syllabus, if required, depending on the situation of the pandemic in the country.
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the central government announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
A nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day. While the government has eased several restrictions, schools and colleges continue to remain closed.
(With PTI inputs)