SYLLABUS CUTS PUSH STUDENT TO 'DUMMY' SCHOOLS

During the pandemic, the CBSE exam syllabus was cut and the NCERT textbooks' content 'rationalised'. But the major entrance exams' syllabi remained the same.

- R Radhika

Shaurya", a Class 12 student in Maharashtra decided to join a dummy school two years ago instead of continuing school like others.

The decision, she said, became crucial to qualify the national-level Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The textbooks designed by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and followed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) were 'rationalised'. In the past two academic sessions 2020-21 and 2021-22, the content was reduced by 30 percent for Classes 9 to 12. In the current one, the syllabus was cut by 15 percent.

"I would have liked to self-study and score on my own instead of joining a coaching centre. These would have been my last two years in school and I could have stayed and enjoyed it. But after the syllabus was reduced, a lot of the topics that are important for JEE will not be taught in school. I had no option but to join the coaching centre." While the board had reduced the syllabus for school students from Class 6 to 12, the syllabus, she said, has not changed for the highly competitive exams.

Owing to school closures and online classes, NCERT felt it "imperative to reduce content load on students" appearing for the Class 12 board exams. Not just CBSE, several state boards including Kerala State Education Board (KSEB) and Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) reduced their syllabi too. Still part of the NCERT books, the dropped topics and chapters will not be asked in the board examination. In consequence, many schools either did not teach those sections at all or skimmed over them, placing students preparing for exams such as JEE and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), at a disadvantage.