After CBSE, Haryana board reduces syllabus by 30%, teachers say not enough

Taking a cue from CBSE’s handbook, the Haryana board too has decided to reduce its syllabus by 30% for classes 9 to 12 to ease the pressure on students whose classes

Taking a cue from CBSE’s handbook, the Haryana board too has decided to reduce its syllabus by 30% for classes 9 to 12 to ease the pressure on students whose classes have been disrupted by the closure of schools owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The state has rationalized the syllabus on the pattern of CBSE and the revised syllabus was shared with teachers earlier this month. Government school teachers are, however, worried about the completion of syllabus for students in senior classes with teachers saying that the reduction in syllabus is still not adequate in view of the condition in which classes had been taking place.

Vidushi Kataria, a computer teacher, said that some of the topics that had been excluded had already been covered by schools at the beginning of the academic session. “The syllabus for class 12 is a lot and some more topics could have been excluded. We are making efforts to cover the syllabus as quickly as we can, but there are challenges. Not all students have access to devices and the internet at all times, due to which the pace gets disrupted,” said Kataria.

A class 11 English teacher, who did not wish to be named, said that while the reduction in syllabus for students of class 12 was adequate, the students of classes 9, 10, and 11 wouldn’t benefit much since not many topics had been excluded. “A very small portion of the syllabus has been reduced for students in classes 9 and 10. The reduced portion is not even 30%, of what we had expected. The syllabus in class nine especially is a lot and almost negligible rationalisation has been done. The reduction will not be enough to ease the burden on students,” said the teacher. She said that while teachers had high hopes about the reduction in syllabus, the final revised syllabus for senior classes was shared only a few weeks ago.

Board of School Education Haryana (Bhiwani) chairman Jagbir Singh said that while the rationalised syllabus was shared on the public domain this month, teachers had been apprised much earlier that the state board would be reducing the syllabus on lines of the CBSE. “We had informed the teachers union well in advance. Once the formal notification was issued, the syllabus was shared with all,” said Singh.

He said that online classes were taking place in both private and government schools in the state and there was still time for syllabus completion. “Classes have been taking place and we are confident that the syllabus will be completed since we still have time,” said Singh, adding that further reduction of the syllabus was not feasible. “While we held consultations at the state level before reducing the syllabus, it has been rationalised on lines of the CBSE, since NCERT books are followed in senior classes. We cannot allow our students to fall behind by following a different model, since they need to appear at national level exams that tests students on lines of CBSE pattern,” said Singh. He said that the board had been in touch with the CBSE and there are no further plans to reduce the syllabus.