It’s a lie, chapters on Mughals not dropped, NCERT director says debate ‘unnecessary’: Report

NEW DELHI: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) director Dinesh Prasad Saklani today clarified that the chapters on Mughals have not been dropped and that the debate on this matter was “unnecessary”, the ANI reported.

Several boards including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), ICSE, deleted some syllabus to reduce the burden on students as classes shifted to online mode for more than two years. During the COVID-19.

Dinesh Prasad Saklani said: "It's a lie. (Chapters on) Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalisation process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere…”

“Expert committees examined the books from Classes 6-12. They recommended that if this chapter is dropped, it won't affect the knowledge of the children and an unnecessary burden can be removed...The debate is unnecessary. Those who don't know, can check the textbooks,” the ANI quoted NCERT director.

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“We are working as per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. This is a transition phase. NEP 2020 speaks of reducing 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 added as per the report.

The statement comes after Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak announced that the UP government schools will adopt the new Class 12 NCERT textbooks from this academic year 2023.

The revision and deletion chapters from NCERT textbooks have been prompting allegations from academicians and subject experts. The NCERT released a list of “rationalised content” in early 2022. It had removed portions about the 2002 Gujarat riots, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement and Mughal courts from its Class 12 history textbooks.