CBSE to reduce syllabus by 30% for classes IX to XII

Hyderabad: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), on 7 July, announced that it will reduce 30 per cent of the syllabus for classes IX to XII for the academic session 2020-21. The board took this decision to make up for the teaching time lost due to the closure of schools following the pandemic.

The board's curriculum committee and the governing body have approved the move. The reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for internal assessment and the year-end board examination, CBSE said.

“The measure was taken due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and in different parts of the world. Considering the importance of learning, the syllabus has been rationalised to the extent possible by retaining the core concept,” said Dr. Joseph Emmanuel, the director (academics) of CBSE.

The board has also asked the heads of schools and teachers to ensure that the topics which have been reduced are explained to the students. It said that alternative academic calendars and inputs from the NCERT to carry out the curriculum using different strategies may also be part of the teaching pedagogy. The schools can also follow the alternative academic calendar and learning outcomes for elementary classes (I-VIII) given by the NCERT, it said.