The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the school board responsible for providing textbooks and educational material to schools across India. Recently, it has announced major changes to the curriculum for students enrolled in schools approved by the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Board. A number of topics related to history, science, and physics have been eliminated from the syllabus with the roll out of NCERT’s new academic session(2023-24) for classes 10-12.
Courses such as US hegemony in world politics, the Mughal court, colonial cities, industrial revolution, and the Cold War Era have been removed from the syllabus in Civics, History, and in other related subjects. In addition, chapters related to solid state chemistry, environmental issues, human settlements, reproduction of organisms, and surface chemistry have been removed from the textbooks prescribed for students in classes 10-12.
These changes could have a significant effect on those preparing for NEET, as they won’t be taught these topics in school and will have to rely on coaching instead. Moreover, the topics removed from class 10 Civics text, Democratic Politics-II include “Democracy and Diversity”, “Popular Struggles and Movements”, and “Challenges to Democracy”. From Class 11 History’s “Themes in World history”, subjects such as central Islamic lands, confrontation of cultures, and the industrial Revolution have been excised.
Educators and schools that adhere to the UP Board face the challenge of teaching this new curriculum in a short amount of time. NCERT stipulates that teachers must tailor the curriculum to give their students an adequate understanding of the material.
A person concerned by the changes made in NCERT’s books is UP Board Secretary Dibyakant Shukla, who stated that the changes have been mandated by NCERT, and assured that students would be taught in accordance with the new syllabus in the upcoming academic session. The links of the subject-wise rationalised syllabus have been made available on the official website of UP Board.
In totality, these changes will greatly alter the content of the syllabus in schools recognised by UP Board. Students will be expected to cover an ample part of these topics through self-studies and coaching, making for a challenging but ultimately rewarding educational experience.
