'It's a lie. Chapters on Mughals have not been dropped': NCERT director clarifies

NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani has clarified that chapters on Mughals had not been “dropped” from CBSE books, calling the recent reports a “lie”. Saklani explained that the syllabus was rationalised to ease pressure on students. 

"It's a lie. (Chapters on) Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalisation process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere...Expert committees examined the books from std 6-12. They recommended that if this chapter is dropped, it won't affect the knowledge of the children and an unnecessary burden can be removed...The debate is unnecessary. Those who don't know, can check the textbooks..,” the NCERT said in a video interview to ANI.

#WATCH | Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director of NCERT says, "It's a lie. (Chapters on) Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalisation process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere...Expert committees examined the books from std 6-12.… pic.twitter.com/647wdsPSSR

— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2023

Debate had erupted after it was recently reported that chapters such as the Mughal empire and ‘Kings and Courts’ will be removed from Class 12th History books after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently announced that the syllabus for CBSE Class 12th will be revised. 

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has decided to leave out the chapters on 'Kings and Chronicles' and the 'The Mughal Courts' from the CBSE Class 12 Mediaeval History textbooks, it was reported. The revision will be applicable to all the schools that follow NCERT books and syllabi. The move was adopted by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) state Board after CBSE. 

“The content of the textbooks has been rationalised for various reasons, including overlapping with similar content in other subject areas in the same class, similar content included in the lower or higher classes on the same subject,” the NCERT had said in a note.

(Inputs from agencies)