One has been included in Class IX syllabus, three others have been included in Class X syllabus and two retained in Class XII. (File Photo)
THE PUNJAB School Education Board (PSEB) has submitted a detailed chart to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) explaining how old topics in Class XII syllabus have been incorporated in the new syllabi of Classes IX, X and XI related to Sikh and Punjab history.
The opposition, including SAD and AAP, has been claiming that 22 chapters related to Sikh and Punjab history have been ‘deleted’ from the new syllabus. A copy of the chart shows that of 22 chapters which were in Class XII syllabus, five have been included in Class XI syllabus. One has been included in Class IX syllabus, three others have been included in Class X syllabus and two retained in Class XII. However, the number of chapters have been reduced and multiple chapters merged into one chapter (explained in chart below). But the chart shows that no topic on Sikh and Punjab history from old Class XII syllabus has been ‘deleted’ or completely removed.
Dr M Rajivlochan, professor of history, Panjab University, Chandigarh, who was part of the advisory committee of PSEB that revised history books for Classes IX to XII to ‘re-align’ it with National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), said, “It was since at least two decades since history syllabus of PSEB was last revised.
This exercise was last carried out in the mid ‘90s and after than NCERT also released National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in 2005 recommending revision of syllabi in states. But Punjab did not adopt it. It was high time that revision in syllabi was required to update students with what CBSE students are learning at national level.”
“As per NCF 2005 of NCERT, it was recommended to make textbooks easy to read in a manner that students can understand them even without teachers.
There has to be lot of activities, stories and other interesting elements which we have now tried to incorporate. Teachers should go through the books and give feedback on the difference that they feel while teaching. The books of private publishers earlier recommended by the board were not even books but guides. Students were only focused on mugging them up instead of understanding concepts.”
He also trashed claims that the were changed ‘overnight’. “We were on it since 2014 that we were on it,” he said. He added, “There are three-four mistakes (in the Class XII book) which we accept. These happened during translation from Punjabi to English. We will issue corrigendum for them.”