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CBSE exams in UAE: Schools say no further syllabus reduction

Dubai - UAE school heads rubbish rumours about reduced syllabus for social science exam

UAE school heads are urging students not to fall for rumours that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has reduced the syllabus for the social sciences Class X exams.

Also read:

CBSE exams in UAE: Schedules for Grade 10 and 12 out now

School principals pointed out that the board held a recent meeting with overseas school heads to quash all such rumours.

Principals suggested that students should continue preparing for their exams based on the already existing syllabus - that was visibly trimmed bearing in mind the pandemic year.

Mohammad Ali Kottakkulam, principal of Gulf Indian High School, said: “The CBSE had reduced 30 per cent of topics in the beginning of the academic year considering the pandemic. Besides the reduction done at the beginning of the academic year, there have been no additional reductions done by the CBSE recently in the syllabus of class 10 social studies.”

He added: “This was categorically clarified by the CBSE controller of examinations who had an online interaction session with the CBSE principals in India and abroad on February 27. Such last-minute changes are not possible to take place as the CBSE has already shared the sample papers based on the earlier reductions in the syllabus. Any new change in the syllabus would mandate the release of new sample papers in accordance with the re-revised syllabus which will not be possible at this time of the academic year. So, we rule out this possibility.”

Topics like Livelihoods, Economies and Societies, The Making of a Global World, The Age of Industrialisation, Democracy and Diversity, Gender, Religion and Caste, to name a few, were either deleted, trimmed or modified last year to provide leeway to students in the upcoming board examination.

Deepika Thapar Singh, CEO-Principal of Credence High School, explained: “CBSE reviewed the syllabus for all subjects from Grade 9 to Grade 12 and the same were shared in September 2020.The syllabus reduced by 30 per cent then: one or two topics from each of History, Civics, Geography and Economics for both grade 9 and 10 have been deleted. The deleted topics are the extension or detailed study of the current topics and don’t create any learning gaps.”

The CBSE would conduct the social sciences paper for class 10 on May 27.

Bushra Mansoor, head of Secondary, Springdales School, Dubai, underlined: “Only one-time deletion happened in September 2020 and no further deletion has taken place. This step was taken to reduce the preparation pressure of the students. This will allow them to focus on Maths and Science scores, which become the main considerations for the Science streams in most schools.”