“Syllabus rationalization is not a new thing and NCERT has been doing it for years. A group of experts and a highly professional body are engaged in the rationalization work. We should not look at it in a narrow perspective and create controversy,” said Saklani, who is on a two-day visit to Odisha. The removal of chapters such as the Gujarat riots, the Cold War and the Mughal court drew criticism from various quarters.
Saklani said, NCERT has made changes in all subjects ranging from Mathematics, Science, Geography, Literature and Language. “I don’t know why people are making it an issue for social science and history when we have changed all subjects. We know how covid has put mental pressure and stress on children. Hence, the parliamentary committee decided the syllabus. Revision and reform of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is in full swing and the Framework for Early Childhood Education (ECE) will be ready by the next academic session, he said. In addition, emphasis is being laid on the implementation of the National Education Policy, such as mother tongue as the medium of instruction, and vocational and skill based education.
“Reading in your mother tongue is very important and parents have to accept it anyway. We also teach English and other languages to children but not at the cost of our mother tongue. There is emphasis on multilingualism,” Saklani said.
Saklani said that the main objective of NEP-2020 is to create good human beings and to take school education ahead of rote learning and all round development of children. “As per NEP-2020, after class 12 students will be proficient in some trade or the other so that they can earn a living. We are planning to introduce new and advanced topics like Coding, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Organic Farming and many more subjects.