NCERT Class 10th book syllabus cut once again, periodic table and ‘Democracy’ chapter omitted; check list of topics

Once again, the NCERT Class 10 syllabus has been revised as certain portions from the book are cut, including the periodic table and the ‘democracy’ chapter.

After the deletion of the Mughal Empire chapter from the books for Class 11th and Class 12th, the government-issued NCERT books have once again decided to make omissions, this time deleting the periodic table and the ‘democracy’ portion from NCERT Class 10 books.

The newly released and updated books by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for Class 10 students across CBSE and state board schools reveal new cuts in the syllabus, including important portions such as chemistry’s periodic table, and the ‘democracy’ section.

The removal of certain sections from the NCERT textbooks this year sparked a massive debate across the country a few months back, but the council justified its decisions by saying that cutting down these portions was done to reduce the burden on the students.

The NCERT Class 10 science textbooks saw chapters on environmental sustainability and sources of energy cut from, including the removal of the periodic table. Further, chapters on democracy, challenges to democracy, and political parties have been removed from the Class 10 books.

Full list of chapters dropped from the NCERT Class 10 books

• Science book

• Chapter 5: Periodic Classification of elements

• Chapter 14: Sources of energy

• Chapter 16: Sustainable management of natural resources

• Democratic Politics-I book

• Chapter 5: Popular struggles and movement

• Chapter 6: Political parties

• Chapter 8: Challenges to democracy

The NCERT has said that these chapters have been removed to rationalize the syllabus for students after the Covid pandemic and to ease their study load. If students wish to study these topics, they can opt for the relevant streams for Class 11 and Class 12.

Richard Dawkins, a British biologist and author of The Selfish Gene, slammed this move on social media and rained backlash on the Bhartiya Janta Party for cutting these science topics from the NCERT books.

Dawkins tweeted, “Modi’s BJP is a tragic affront to India’s secular beginnings. Hinduism is at least as ridiculous as Islam. Between them, these two idiotic religions have betrayed the ideals of Nehru and Gandhi.”

Source: DNA