The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has decided to omit the chapter on the periodic table from Class 10 Science textbooks as part of the “rationalisation” exercise. The chapter however has been retained in Class 11 textbook.
The NCERT had notified these changes in its June 2022 circular which has been widely debated in academic circles.
Nearly 68 lakh students opted for Arts and Commerce stream in academic year of 2021-22, which is 54% of 1.25 crore students who passed Class 10. Considering that a similar number of students opt for non-science streams in coming years, they may lose out on the opportunity to learn about the crucial basic Chemistry concepts, that are now only accessible in Class 11. “Only 52.4 lakh students opted for Science stream in higher secondary school in 2022, which is 42% of all Class 10 students who passed,” according to statistics released by the Ministry of Education.
