CBSE Excludes Chapters On Islamic Empires & Cold War From Textbooks, Verses Of Faiz Also Dropped

Similarly, in the class 10 syllabus, the topic "impact of globalisation on agriculture'' from a chapter on 'Food Security' has been dropped.

chapters on ‘democracy and diversity’ have also been dropped from the course content by the CBSE.

Source : AFP

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education has dropped chapters on Islamic Non-Aligned Movement, the Cold War era, the rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories, the chronicles of Mughal courts and the industrial revolution from the history and political science syllabi of classes 11 and 12, reported news agency PTI. 

Similarly, in the class 10 syllabus, the topic "impact of globalisation on agriculture'' from a chapter on 'Food Security' has been dropped. The translated excerpts from two poems in Urdu by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the 'Religion, Communalism and Politics Communalism, Secular State' section have also been excluded this year.

Furthermore, chapters on ‘democracy and diversity’ have also been dropped from the course content by the Board.

Responding to the question behind the choice of topics or chapters being dropped, the officials maintained that the changes are part of rationalisation of syllabus and are in alignment with recommendations by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), reported the news agency. 

"CBSE annually provides curriculum for classes 9 to 12 containing academic content, syllabus for examinations with learning outcomes, pedagogical practices and assessment guidelines. Considering the feedback of stakeholders and other prevailing conditions, the board is in favour of conducting the annual scheme of assessment at the end of the academic session 2022-23 and the curriculum has been designed accordingly," a senior board official said, quoted by PTI. 

The dropped chapter "Central Islamic Lands" in the class 11 history syllabus talks about the rise of Islamic empires in the Afro-Asian territories and its implications for economy and society, according to the description in last year's syllabus.

The chapter focused on arenas of Islam in reference to its emergence, the rise of the caliphate and empire building.

Similarly, in the class 12 history syllabus, the dropped chapter titled 'The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles' examined the chronicles of Mughal courts to reconstruct the social, religious and cultural history of the Mughals.

This is not the first time that the Board has had certain chapters from the syllabus which were part of the curriculum for decades. 

In 2020, the CBSE had excluded chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, and secularism in the class 11 political science textbook triggering controversy. The topics were later restored in the 2021-22 academic session and remain a part of the curriculum.