Periodic Table to stay part of Class 9-10 syllabus: Darwin’s theory of evolution and the periodic table will remain on Class 9 and 10 curricula, as well as chapters on the Mughals, according to members of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) steering committee for school education. In addition to the Mughals, the history of the Cholas, Ahoms, and Marathas will be taught in the social sciences section.
In the past couple of months, NCERT has courted controversy
More than 1,800 scientists and teachers have protested the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) decision to remove Charles Darwin’s “Theory of Biological Evolution” from its Class X textbook and have urged the Centre to reinstate the chapter.
Now, 33 additional academics distance themselves from NCERT textbooks over’revisions’
Days after Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar dissociated themselves from NCERT’s political science textbooks over the deletion of certain sections, 33 more academics on Wednesday requested the Council to drop their names from the Textbook Development Committee (TDC), claiming that their “collective effort is being undermined.”
71 academics criticise the spectacle of the textbook dispute.
NEW DELHI: A group of 71 signatories, including vice-chancellors of some central institutions, NIT directors, and IIM chairpersons, labelled as “false propaganda” the demand of some experts to have their names removed from NCERT textbooks over changes, claiming that “there had been deliberate attempts to mislead the public.”
amidst allegations of “multiple substantial revisions of original texts” during curriculum rationalisation. Government sources, however, asserted that the criticism lacked academic merit, as the “rationalisation” exercise was intended to reduce the academic burden due to the Covid pandemic and was therefore temporary in nature. According to official sources, the Council is planning to release a new set of textbooks based on the NCF for the upcoming academic year.
On the basis of the proposed curriculum, textbooks for Classes 3 through 12 will be developed. According to officials involved in the finalisation of the NCF, the document regards the periodic table and its classification to be “essential concepts,” whereas the evolution of life, the theory of natural selection, and Darwinism are extensively covered in high school.
“The document emphasises the significance of acquiring concepts such as Newton’s laws, Ohm’s laws, and Mendel’s laws of inheritance in secondary school (Classes 9 to 12). In fact, element classification in the periodic table is a secondary curriculum objective, according to an NCERT subject matter expert.
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Periodic Table to stay part of Class 9-10 syllabus
Criticism that the rationalisation exercise was a pretext for the propagation of an ideology was refuted by those involved in the curriculum’s design. The shoe is on the opposite foot. “The previous curriculum was designed to promote an agenda, whereas the upcoming curriculum aims to fill learning gaps,” a specialist explained.
The NCERT was criticised for removing the periodic table from the Class 10 and 12 curriculum. The new NCF, which follows a gap of 18 years, will presumably begin with the classification and properties of elements according to the periodic table. On the basis of these principles, the combination of elements to form compounds, the nature of these bonds, and the geometry of molecules must be described in detail. In April, a group of scientists, teachers, and educators protested the withdrawal of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution from Class 9 and 10 science textbooks by signing an open letter to NCERT.
“Analysis of evidence demonstrating the consequences of the process of natural selection on biological evolution in terms of changes – structure and function of organisms – is part of the curricular objective, and in the course on Unity of Life, students will be engaged in an overview of the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection through the work of Darwin and Wallace, a discussion of the modern synthesis, and an introduction to phylogenetics through the study of the studbook.”
A senior official from the ministry of Education stated that once the NCF is complete, the NCERT will undertake the “ambitious task” of devising the textbooks by the end of the year.
JNU VC Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said, “Earlier, textbooks were more agenda-setting and gatekeeping. Why were the Cholas and Ahoms, who ruled for an extended period of time, ignored? Mughals will be taught in their rightful place, but a number of other omissions, those who were previously marginalised, are being supplied.
