Himachal Pradesh school board announces 30% cut in syllabus

TNR Desk

The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education has introduced a significant 30 per cent reduction in syllabus for the upcoming 2024-25 academic session.

This measure, aimed at streamlining the curriculum, involves the exclusion of certain chapters from old textbooks of Classes VI to XII and the issuance of revised textbooks with updated content. A notification has been issued by the education board to exclude the chapters from the old textbooks.

Newly printed textbooks with the revised syllabus, featuring a 30 per cent reduction, are being distributed to schools statewide. Concurrently, the education board has dispatched old textbooks to select schools, accompanied by a notification outlining the subjects and chapters to be omitted.

In Class VI, chapter 5 “Importance of Letters” from Part 1 of Hindi, chapter 6 “A Different Look” from English, and chapter 17 “Breath to Breath” from science have been removed.

From mathematics, chapters 1 to 5, chapter 8 and some topics from chapter 9 have been removed while chapter 13 “Similarity” and chapter 14 “Practical Geometry” have been completely removed. From science, chapters 1, 3, 6, 14, and 16 have been completely removed. Similarly, various subjects from other classes have also been removed.

The board’s decision is also expected to lead to an increase in multiple-choice questions (MCQs) during examinations. In anticipation of this change, the board has announced the provision of separate OMR sheets for students to facilitate the answering of MCQs during board examinations. This initiative aims to familiarise students with OMR sheets, ensuring they encounter no difficulties when encountering such formats in competitive examinations.