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Context - The Education Minister has chaired the discussion with members of the national steering committee on modifying the school curriculum.

 

Details

• The inter-ministerial discussion is seen as the initial step to include “emerging topics” such as “consequences of zoonotic diseases”, Vedic mathematics, coding and Swachh Bharat in the school curriculum to “reflect current realities and priorities”.
• Recently, Controversy erupted over CBSE's decision to revamp the school curriculum.

 

 CBSE's decision to revamp the School Curriculum

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to drop certain chapters from the syllabus of history and political science in classes 11 and 12.
• The CBSE has dropped chapters related to;
  • The Non-Aligned Movement.
  • The Cold War era.
  • The Rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories.
  • The Chronicles of Mughal courts.
  • The Industrial Revolution.
• The dropped chapter on the "Central Islamic Lands" in the class 11 history syllabus explains the rise of Islamic empires in the Afro-Asian territories and its implications for the economy and society.
• The dropped chapter In the class 12 history syllabus 'The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles' examined the chronicles of Mughal courts to reconstruct the social, religious and cultural history of the Mughal.
• The CBSE has dropped the following chapters from the class 10 economics syllabus;
  • Impact of globalization on agriculture
  • Food Security
• It has dropped the poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz related to the 'Religion, Communalism and Politics — Communalism, Secular State' section.
• CBSE has also dropped the chapters on “Democracy and Diversity”.

 

The rationality behind the decision

• The CBSE officials stated that the changes are part of the rationalization of the syllabus and according to the proposals of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
• This is not the first time the board has dropped certain chapters from the syllabus. In 2020, CBSE announced that chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, and secularism in class 11 political science textbooks will not be considered while assessing students.
• CBSE annually provides a curriculum for classes 9 to 12 containing a syllabus for examinations with learning outcomes. Therefore it is a regular exercise done by the Board to rationalise the syllabus according to the time and need.

 

Challenges in Indian Education System

• India has achieved universal enrolment at the elementary level. This is a great achievement, but getting Students to School is only the beginning of human Capital formation.
• Poor quality of facilities, Shortage of qualified faculty.
• Out of date Curriculum, Limited university-industry Partnership.
• Indian origin Scientists have won the Nobel Prize, but post-independence work done in India has not led to a Science novel. If Indians Studying and working abroad can have a great impact, then obviously the problem has to do with our Systems of education and research.
• Broken governance System. There are few rewards for being a good teacher and few Punishments for being a Careless one. Need more effective and accountable governance Systems.
• The greed of Private Colleges to earn the maximum from every Student puts traumatic Pressure on Students which results in mental breakdown.
• More girls than boys drop out of School. While boys drop out to work, girls usually Stay at home and help with domestic Work. Social Conception of gender roles is an important factor.
• Learning loss due to pandemics and the digital divide.

 

Steps by the Government

The 86th Constitution Amendment provides the Fundamental right to free and compulsory education under Article 21A includes a Common education System where the “rich and Poor are educated under one roof".

• Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan provides funding to eligible State higher educational institutions.
• Declaration of Educational Institutions as institutions of Eminence, to provide world-class education to Indian Students within the Country.
• Creation of Higher Education Financing Agency, for high-quality infrastructure in Premier educational institutions.
• National Institution Ranking Framework for ranking our higher education institutions.
• GIAN Initiative to invite distinguished academicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, and experts from premier institutions across the world to teach in higher educational institutions in India.
• SWAYAM Portal for online Courses.
• SWAYAM Prabha Provide HD educational Channels through DTH on a 24X7 basis.
• Sodhganga to develop a national repository of universities in India, digital Study material for higher education.
• Samagra Shiksha Scheme to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/education/from-vedic-maths-to-zoonotic-diseases-new-school-curriculum-national-curriculum-framework-ncert-textbooks-7892321/