New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on October 21 said the decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to keep Punjabi out of the major subjects is against the federal spirit of the Constitution and it violates the right of Punjabi youth to learn their native language. In response, the central education board said it is a purely administrative decision and classification of subjects as minor and major is not indicative of their importance.“I firmly oppose the CBSE’s authoritarian decision to keep Punjabi out of the main subjects. This is against the federal spirit of Constitution, violating the right of Punjabi youth to learn their native language. I condemn this biased exclusion of Punjabi,” the Chief Minister tweeted.
The board said in return, “It is clarified that the classification of subjects has been done purely on administrative ground for the purpose of conduct of Term – I Examinations based on the number of candidates appearing in the subject and in no way reflects the importance of subjects as Major or Minor.”
Every subject is equally important from the academic point of view. All the regional languages, including Punjabi, have been put under the minor category for “administrative convenience” in relation to the logistics required for conducting board exams, the CBSE added.
Class 10 term 1 exams for the minor papers will begin on November17 and Class 12 minor papers will start on November 16.
Major papers for Class 10 will begin on November 30 and continue till December 11. For Class 12 students, major papers will be conducted from December 1 to December 22.
With inputs from NDTV
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