NEW DELHI: A day after the NCERT announced its decision to drop chapters on Mughal history sparked controversy, the education body clarified that the chapters were not removed rather they were merely rationalized to lessen the burden of students after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The NCERT further claimed that the reports of Mughal chapters being removed were a 'lie', Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director of NCERT, said there was a rationalisation process last year due to Covid-19.
As the move to remove chapters on Mughal led to the furore, many took to social media to slam NCERT.
Calling the debate “unnecessary,” the NCERT chief further said that the expert committees examined the books from classes 6-12.
“The expert committee recommended that the 'removed' chapters will not affect the children's knowledge further it will only reduce the unnecessary burden on the students. The debate is unnecessary. Those who don’t know can check the textbooks," he told ANI.
“We are working as per NEP (National Education Policy) 2020. This is a transition phase. NEP 2020 seeks to reduce the content load. We are implementing it. NCF (National Curriculum Framework) for school education is being formed; it will be finalised soon. Textbooks will be printed in 2024 as per NEP. We have not dropped anything right now,” he further said.
Under its rationalised syllabus to be taught to Class 12 from the academic session 2023-24, the NCERT removed chapters and topics related to ‘Kings and Chronicles: The Mughal Courts’ from the history book ‘Themes of Indian History-Part II.’
Describing the reported dropping of the chapter on Mughal history, Prof Mridula Mukherjee, who has taught history at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), for over four decades, said the move to rationalise the book seems to be "political and absurd."
“I understand that you want to reduce the burden on the students. But it cannot be done randomly. There has to be a system and logic to rationalisation. This is politically motivated.”
The recent textbook change will apply to all schools that follow the NCERT syllabus nationwide. According to NCERT, all the changes will be applicable from the next academic session, 2003-04.
NCERT said that under rationalisation, changes had been made in other textbooks, including Maths, Political Science, and Hindi. From the political science book, two chapters titled – ‘American Hegemony in World Politics’ and ‘The Cold War Era’ has also been removed.
Apart from changes made in Class 12 books, NCERT has made a few changes in Class 10 and 11 books also. Chapters such as Democracy and Diversity, Challenges of Democracy, and Popular Struggles and Movements have been removed from the Class 10 - Democratic Politics-2 textbook. Also, chapters like Central Islamic Lands, Industrial Revolution and Clash of Cultures have been dropped from the Class 11 textbook titled - Themes in World History.