Periodic Table, Theory Of Evolution removed from NCERT Class 10 syllabus
What are the material deletions?
The NCERT has listed out what it calls 'Rationalised Content' on its website.
For the sake of simplicity, let us focus only on the 'Full Chapter' deletions in Classes 10, 11 and 12.
Class 10 (English Medium).
- Periodic Classification of Elements.
- Heredity and Evolution (replaced with Heredity).
- Sources of Energy.
- Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.
- Democracy and Diversity.
- Popular Struggles and Movements.
- Challenges to Democracy.
Class 11 (English Medium).
Poverty.
- Infrastructure.
- The Central Islamic Lands.
- The Industrial Revolution.
- Political Theory: Peace.
- Political Theory: Development.
Class 12 (English Medium).
- Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production.
- Environmental Issues.
- Micro-economics: Non-Competitive Markets.
- Population Composition.
- Chapter 1: The Cold War Era.
- Chapter 3: US Hegemony in World Politics.
- Era of One-party Dominance.
- Recent Developments in Indian Politics: 2 pages on Gujarat Riots.
NCERT's 'Overlapping Content' rationale
It is true that Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a part of Class 12 syllabus.
This means that a student would have to opt for a Science stream after Class 10 to learn how organisms evolve across generations.
The same logic holds true for Periodic Tables as well.
The chapter has been retained in the Class 11 syllabus.
Did the rationalisation exercise start this year?
As per the NCERT, these had been rationalised for the session 2022-23 and the same textbooks are being continued for the session 2023-24.
NCERT said:.
1) Discussion about basic concepts such as elements, symbols, formation of compounds, atoms and molecules dealt with in class 9.
2) In class 10, chemical reaction; acids, bases and salts; metals and non-metals; carbon and its compounds have been covered.
3) Students pursuing science in classes 11 and 12 will study the details of Periodic Classification of elements.
4) Content placed in periodic table made more age appropriate, more so considering the COVID situation.
