No Lessons on Nehru, 2002 Riots for Assam's Class 12 Students as Chapters Omitted to Reduce 'Exam Stress'

As a part of 30 percent reduction of syllabus due to the Covid-19 outbreak, lessons on Jawaharlal Nehru, the Mandal Commission report, Gujarat riots 2002, and writings on caste and marginalisation have been dropped from the Class 12 state board syllabus in Assam.

The list of omitted syllabus was uploaded online on the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) official website. Indian Express report states that the decision to omit the above-mentioned topics was made after due consultation with teachers and subject experts of the state.

The removed sections from political science under ‘Politics in India since Independence’ included- ‘First three general elections; Nehru’s approach to nation-building; Famine and suspension of five-year plans; Nehru’s foreign policy; Political succession after Nehru; Politics of Garibi Hatao; Navnirman movement in Gujarat; Punjab crisis and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984; Implementation of Mandal Commission report; UF and NDA governments; Elections 2004 and UPA government; Ayodhya dispute; and Gujarat riots’.

The other topics also included the Congress party and its history; issues of Kashmir; wars with China and Pakistan in 1962, 1965, and 1971; the Emergency; and the rise of the Janata Dal and BJP.

Not only the political science segment was edited but the history syllabus for Class 12 now no longer includes the ‘Kinship, Caste and Class’ section. And in English, a chapter titled ‘Memories of Childhood’ has also been omitted.

Along with the notification of reduced syllabus, Manoranjan Kakati, Secretary of AHSEC said, “it is well known to all that due to Pandemic students of our state (have) already lost valued academic time. After the CBSE decided to reduce the volume of the course for class XI & XII, the AHSEC was seriously deliberating upon the issue. The main objective is to reduce the exam stress of the students of the session 2020-21, due to this pandemic situation and to prevent learning gaps.”

The education body in July had sought the views of educationists and teachers on reducing the syllabus and based on their feedback, the Academic Committee of AHSEC has reduced 30% of the syllabus, Kakati added. However. If complaints come up, we will hold meetings again and decide further Kakati told IE.