National Education Policy 2020 emphasises reducing content load, said the NCERT
As part of syllabus "rationalistion" exercise, the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Emergency imposed in 1975 is among the content that has been dropped from textbooks of classes 6-12.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training or NCERT) said that the changes were made due to the coronavirus pandemic and the National Education Policy 2020 which emphasises on reducing the content load.
The change comes two months after the body, which advises the central and state governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education, dropped chapters on Democracy and Diversity, Mughal courts, Cold War era, Industrial revolution and poems by Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
The reference to the Gujarat riots has been removed from the chapter 'Recent Developments in Indian Politics' in the Class 12 Political Science curriculum. Extracts of the excluded portion include - "Gujarat riots show that the government machinery also becomes susceptible to sectarian passions" and "Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics."
The NCERT has also dropped five pages on controversies regarding Emergency. The portion on Emergency has been removed from the chapter 'The Crisis of Democratic Order' in the Class 12 Political Science curriculum.
The portion included content on abuse of power and malpractices committed by the Indira Gandhi government and list of excesses like arrest of political workers, restrictions on media, torture and custodial deaths, forced sterilisations, large-scale displacement of the poor.
Content on social movements has also been removed. Excluded topics are: Movement for RTI, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Chipko movement in Uttarakhand, Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra, farmers movement in 1980s by Bharatiya Kisan Union.
The NCERT has called it "rationalistion of contents in textbooks" and added that the the decision is based on overlapping with similar text, irrelevant content and difficulty level.
It further said that in view of COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content load on students and the changes will help students in making a speedy recovery in learning.
"National Education Policy 2020 emphasises reducing content load, providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset," it said.
While textbooks will not be reprinted due to time crunch, changes in the syllabus will be communicated to the schools formally.