Five social science chapters dropped from CBSE class 10 syllabus

New Delhi, April 17 (PTI): The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to drop five social science chapters, including ‘Challenges to Democracy’ and ‘Political Struggles and Movements’, from class 10 syllabus from this academic session, according to the new curriculum.

The dropped chapters, including three on political studies and two on environment, will only be part of internal assessment, but not the final board exam.

The chapters are — ‘Challenges to Democracy’ about problems facing the governance system as well as political reforms, ‘Democracy and Diversity’ on the politics of social divisions, ‘Political Struggles and Movements’ dwells on popular struggles in Nepal and Bolivia, among others.

The other two are ‘Forest and Wildlife’ about biodiversity, vanishing forests, Asiatic Cheetah and other endangered animals and ‘Water Resources’ which includes lessons on water conservation.

“The chapter will be assessed in the periodic tests, but will not be evaluated in the board examination,” the brief attached with the syllabus sent to schools read.

The board had last month issued a circular to schools, saying it wanted to align its assessment patterns with the future needs as the Ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2021.

“Countrywide consultations were held with CBSE stakeholders, including teachers, students, heads of institutions and experts in the field to suggest ways to strengthen the assessment and evaluation practices of the board,” the circular read.

“It was agreed upon that the school-based or internal assessment needs to be strengthened by incorporating more diverse strategies,” it added.