CBSE to set reduce syllabus for classes 9-12

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will reduce the syllabus for classes 9 to 12 for the academic session 2020-2021. The reduction will be by up to 30%. This is to make up for the academic loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development said, .”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 Class 9th to 12th”.

In a statement, the CBSE said that core concepts of these three classes will be retained. “Considering the importance of achieving the level of learning, the syllabus has been rationalised to the extent possible by retaining the core concepts.

The board also said that heads of schools and teachers should ensure that the topics reduced are also explained to the students to the extent needed. “However the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for Internal Assessment and year-end Board Examination,” the statement read.

Over 1,500 suggestions have been received from education experts from across India on the reduction of syllabus under the hashtag #SyllabusForStudents2020.

There are also suggestions that all-India entrance examinations such as JEE, NEET for the next academic year should be conducted on the basis of the reduced syllabus only.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since 16 March when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

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