Tripura to do away with Left-era school syllabus, to follow CBSE curriculum

The Tripura government has decided to do away with the school syllabus introduced by the previous Left Front regime and instead follow the curriculum on the CBSE pattern.

Information about the change of school syllabus from the next academic session was given to the state legislative assembly by Education minister Ratan Lal Nath on Friday evening.

He also said that students would be taught from National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks.

"The government would introduce NCERT textbooks and CBSE syllabus from the next academic session in place of the present curriculum prescribed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training," Nath said.

A team of NCERT experts is scheduled to arrive here on December 3 to impart a three-month-long training to the teachers about the new syllabus, he added.

"We shall introduce complete NCERT textbooks and CBSE syllabus from next academic year, because the students in our state are lagging behind the standard of the country. We want them to be as competitive as students of other states," Nath informed the assembly.

"The previous Left Front regime had indulged in crimsonisation of the school curriculum by teaching wrong lessons to students," Nath alleged.

Shortly after coming to power in March this year ending the 25-year uninterrupted rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) government had set up an expert committee on the change of school syllabus.

The panel has recommended NCERT curriculum along with the implementation of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus across all government and government-aided schools in the state.

BJP's Chief Whip in the assembly Kalyani Roy had recently mentioned about a controversy in which a school in Unakoti district had asked class 9 students to write a short note on the ruling BJP in an examination.

The question paper had gone viral on social media over the matter.

Nath said the education department examined the question paper and found that the syllabus included a chapter on electoral politics and political parties.

"I was surprised by media reports on this issue. I inquired and found that the syllabus has got a chapter on the BJP, the Congress, the CPI(M), the CPI etc. School textbooks have also got mention of rigging and booth capturing," the minister said.