The Telangana government on Wednesday reduced the syllabus for intermediate students in the state by 30% to compensate for the four months lost to the COVID-19 related lockdown. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had earlier reduced the syllabus for science subjects, and had issued a directive for states to reduce the syllabus load on students. In Telangana, the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) accepted recommendations made by a subject committee that looked into syllabus reduction given by the CBSE. The bulk of the BIE’s reduction is on historical subjects.
For intermediate students who chose humanities as their elective, lessons on Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, will be omitted for this year, reported Times of India.
In a statement to the press, the BIE said that lessons on the Goods and Service Tax (GST) have also been dropped.
For the History-I subject, literary sources in chapter 1 (from the ‘History, Geography and Sources’ textbook), Early Vedic Period, Later Vedic Period, and science and technology in chapter 2 (Indus Valley Civilization and Vedic Culture) are the lessons that have been dropped. However, the BIE made it clear that there is no question of removing lessons on national heroes, social reformers and eminent personalities.
In the History-II subject, the following are topics that have been deleted:
— Language and literature, art and architecture in unit 2 (Age of Satavahanas)
— Economy, society, religion, education, language and literature, art and architecture in unit 3 (Post-Satavahana period)
— The Post-Kakatiya period in unit 4 (Age of Kakatiyas)
— The Mughal interregnum (1687-1724 AD) in unit 5
— The Join India Movement in unit 9 (Freedom Movement in Hyderabad State)
— The Telangana Praja Samithi and the Eight-Point Formula in unit 10 (Separate Telangana State Movement-Early Phase)
— Non-Cooperation Movements in unit 11 (Separate Telangana State Movement-Later Phase)
— Popular Jataras in unit 12 (Fairs and Festivals of Telangana).
The BIE said that all revised textbooks for history, economics, political science, geography, public administration, commerce, and accountancy for the second-year students and Telugu (second language) for the first-year intermediate students are available on their website tsbie.cgg.gov.in.
The Intermediate Public Examinations for March 2021 and the Intermediate Public Advanced Supplementary Examinations (2020-21) will be based on the remaining 70% of the syllabus.