The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is said to have consulted 25 experts for its syllabus rationalization. It was after discussions with them that portions on Mughals, Mahatma Gandhi and his assassination, reference to Hindu extremists, and the 2002 Gujarat riots were removed from the CBSE History textbooks. Multiple group of experts ranging from two to five were working for the seven subject departments in NCERT. What has however drawn a controversy is the engagement of in-house experts in the project. Numerous academicians have questioned the removal of an essential part of history.
For History, NCERT consulted 5 external experts and for Political Science 2 external experts were consulted. One round of consultation happened with each of these experts. For History, experts like Umesh Kadam, Dr Archana Verma, Shruti Mishra and two Delhi-based Kendriya Vidyalaya teachers Krishna Ranjan and Sunil Kumar were consulted. Umesh Kadam is a professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a member secretary at the Indian Council for Historical Research. Dr Archana Verma is an Associate Professor of History at Hind College. Shruti Mishra is the Head of Department (History) at Delhi Public School, RK Puram.
For Political Science, there were two rounds of consultation with four experts. The experts included Vanthangpui Khobung, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the NCERT’s Regional Institute of Education in Bhopal, Maneesha Pandey a Political Science faculty at Hindu College and school teachers Kavita Jain and Sunita Kathuria. Further Sociology needed three rounds of consultation by four external experts. Some of these experts included Manju Bhatt, a former professor with the Department of Education in Social Science, NCERT; Achala Pritam Tondon, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Hindu College; Seema Banerjee, a sociology teacher at Delhi’s Laxman Public School and Abha Seth, teacher of the same social science at the DAV Public School, Vasant Kunj.
Previously CBSE deleted portions of its syllabus to reduce pressure on students and help them cope with the Covid pandemic. NCERT has also informed that it had held a consultation meeting with 16 teachers nominated by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for syllabus rationalization amidst the pandemic. What prompted NCERT to make these deletions stretch out from reasons such as “overlapping” content, content that is “not relevant or outdated in the present context”, “difficult” syllabus and a course structure that is “easily accessible to children and can be learned through self-learning or peer-learning”.
Image Source: TOI
