State Higher Edu Council replaces three subjects

The three new subjects that have been introduced instead of the three language-based subjects are ‘Applications of Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Science of Wellbeing’, and Cyber Security. 

SOUMITRA NANDI, MP, 16 Mar 2024, Kolkata: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has dropped three subjects and has replaced them with three new subjects which it feels are contemporary. 

“We have dropped three subjects namely Gujarati, French and Punjabi. In the last five years, the number of students opting for these subjects has been less than 10. This year, Gujarati did not find a single taker,” Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, President of WBCHSE said. 

The three new subjects that have been introduced instead of the three language-based subjects are ‘Applications of Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Science of Wellbeing’, and Cyber Security. 

“We already have a subject namely Artificial Intelligence which is meant for Science stream students. However, ‘Applications of Artificial Intelligence’ is open for students of all three streams. ‘Science of Wellbeing’ can also be taken up by students studying Humanities, Commerce and Science stream. 

Cyber Security is, however, only for the Science stream,” a senior Council official said. The new subjects can be taken up from the 2024-25 academic session. The Council President said that the subject named Agronomy has been christened Agriculture while Home Management and Family Resources have been named Human Development and Resource Management. 

Physical Education has been made open to students of all three streams, including Science. The Council on Thursday notified revised syllabus for all 62 subjects excluding 13 vocational subjects that are being taught in the higher secondary level which will be taught in semester mode. 

There will be four semesters – two in Class XI and two in Class XII. According to the Council, the syllabus for language papers like Bengali, English, History, Political Science etc has witnessed quite a lot of changes. The prose and the poem pieces in English and Bengali have been replaced with works by the same writer. Works of modern poets like Srijato have been included in Bengali. 

“In History, we have divided different eras and have designated the sub-topics. It starts from the 1857 Revolt and continues upto post the 1971 Liberation War along with its impact. 

Pre–independence, Gandhian concepts, Azad Hind Movement, post-independence portions have been covered in the syllabus,“ Priyadarshini Mallick, Secretary of the Council said. 

In the case of Political Science — RTI Act, India Foreign Policy, India Nuclear Policy etc have been new inclusions. Current issues and laws related to Economics and Business Studies have been included in the Commerce syllabus to make it contemporary. In the case of Science, there have been some changes and the Council has tried its best to keep in parity with NCERT so that the students do not face difficulty in competitive examinations. 

The Council has uploaded syllabi for all subjects in its website for the benefit of the students. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/state-higher-edu-council-replaces-three-subjects-556087