At which times has the CBSE syllabus seen major changes? What was removed What was added?

CBSE, that is, Central Board of Secondary Education, is India's biggest board for education and is controlled and administered by the union government. The CBSE board was established by the government of India in 1929. Since many private and government schools in India are affiliated with this board, a major proportion of school children in India are students of the CBSE board. Altogether, 26,054 schools in India, as well as other 240schools in other countries, are affiliated with the CBSE board.

All the schools affiliated with the CSBE board follow the same syllabus from class 9 to class 12. The current chairperson of the board is Vineet Joshi, who is also an officer in the IAS [Indian Administrative Service]. All the schools affiliated with CBSE have to follow the syllabus issued by the NCERT [National Council for Educational Research and Training]. This regulation is applicable to class 9 through to class 12 as the class 10 and class 12 final examinations are conducted by the CBSE.

Recently the CBSE has made major changes to the syllabus for the session 2022–23. The board has removed several chapters from the Class 11 and Class 12 syllabuses for History and Political Science. These chapters pertained to theNon-Aligned Movement, the Cold War era, the rise of Islamic empires in the Afro-Asian regions, the history of the Mughal courts, and the Industrial Revolution.

Similarly, the topic 'Impact of Globalization on Agriculture in the chapter on 'Food Security' has been dropped from the Class 10 syllabus. Along with this, translated excerpts from two poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, originally written in Urdu, have been removed from the section religion, Communalism, and Politics –Communalism, Secular State'. CBSE has also removed 'Democracy and Diversity' from its curriculum content.

These [excerpts from] the poems by Faiz were removed:

'Itni Mulakaton Ke baad bhi hum Aznabee Rahate hain, Itni Barish ke baad bhi Khoon ke dhabbe rah jaate hain.'

'Aaaj, Janjeeron men Jakade Sarvjanik Chauk men chalo.'

In the material now excluded from the CBSE syllabus are two posters and a political cartoon. The posters had included the lines from Faiz's poems. According to the information, one of the excerpts is from a poem written by Faiz when he was fettered in chains while being taken in a tanga [rickshaw pulled by a horse] from Lahore Jail to a dentist. The second excerpt was taken from a poem that Faiz wrote while visiting Dhaka in 1974. It is said that Faiz's poems have always served as a mirror for the governments of the day, and as a weapon or tool against dictatorial and anti-democratic forces.

As per the new syllabus, the board exams will be held only once a year. Last year, the board decided to conduct the board exams twice a year. But now CBSE has decided to again revert to the previous pattern of conducting board exams only once a year. The exams will be held from March-April. Also, as per the new syllabus, the final board examination will be 80 marks, and the remaining 20 marks will be for internal assessment.

We would like to inform you that due to Covid-19, schools across the country remained closed for a long time. Although the schools have been reopened in many states, classes are not being conducted in the same way as they had been conducted before the corona pandemic. At the same time, because of the absence of classes, students have not been able to complete their courses. Due to this, students have also been under increased mental stress. This is the reason why the NCERT is taking the decision to fill the gap as soon as possible by reducing the burden of the syllabus for students from the next academic session.

According to reports, some changes have also been made for the next year by the NCERT in the books used in classes 1-5. Currently, work is focusing on implementing the changes to classes 6-12.

Changes being made to the syllabus are neither a new practice nor is it surprising. From time to time, all ruling parties have made changes to the syllabus in line with their politics. According to The Telegraph, the NCERT has conducted two such review exercises since 2001. Up until 2018, a total of 1,334 changes were made in 182 NCERT books.

In 2001, at the time of the Vajpayee government 2001, an attempt was made to change the Indian education system. According to a report in The New York Times, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh) believes that India's strengths have not been given due attention in Indian school curriculum textbooks.

There had been much outrage over the changes to the curriculum proposed by the government of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Then, many historians petitioned the Supreme Court to demand a stop to the process. But the court did not decide in their favor, and overnight bookstores started to sell the revised history books.