Starting from this academic session, the government schools in Uttar Pradesh will implement the new class 12 history textbooks from NCERT, which exclude sections related to Mughal courts. “The teaching methodology in these schools relies on National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books, and hence the revised edition will be strictly adhered to,” Brajesh Pathak, deputy chief minister, said, according to an official statement.
For the upcoming 2023-24 session, the state schools will adhere to the revised edition of NCERT books, which is in line with the syllabus rationalisation exercise undertaken by the NCERT last year, according to Deepak Kumar, additional chief secretary, (basic and secondary education). The exercise involved dropping certain portions from the syllabus, including lessons on Mughal courts from its class 12 textbooks, citing reasons such as “overlapping” and “irrelevance”, he added. The changes were announced in early 2022 when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) rationalised its syllabi in April. Apart from schools under CBSE, some state boards also use NCERT textbooks, the statement mentioned.
The textbooks have been changed for a few reasons. They had some repeated content that was already taught in other classes or was too hard for students to learn on their own. They also removed things that were not important for students to know right now, the statement added.
Furthermore, the chapter titled ‘Recent Developments in Indian Politics’ in the political science textbook for class 12 does not include pages dedicated to the ‘Gujarat Riots’. Additionally, the textbook has omitted any references to the National Human Rights Commission report on the 2002 violence and the “raj dharma” comment made by then Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee, the statement said. Moreover, the political science textbook excludes several topics such as the Mughal courts in a history textbook, a poem about the Dalit movement, and a chapter on the Cold War.
With inputs from PTI.
