The Odisha government has decided to reduce the school syllabus for the 2020-21 academic year by 30%. The decision has been taken keeping in mind the loss of school time because of the COVID disruption.
This development was announced by State School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash. “Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize syllabus up to 30% by retaining the core concepts,” said the minister.
Dash went on to elaborate on the duration of classroom teaching lost due to the COVID. He also stressed the importance of keeping children safe and stopping the virus from spreading further.
“The Board has decided to revise the syllabi for class I to XII for the academic session 2020-21. The changes made in the syllabi have been finalised by the respective Course Committees with the approval of 3 committees,” he said.
The minister also declared that the new syllabus will be available in BSE, CHSE & SCERT websites.
Notably, Odisha is not the first state to reduce school syllabus. Several state governments have chosen this path after CBSE decided to cut down the school syllabus for classes 9 to 12. This includes states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.