Class 11 students in schools affiliated to the UP Board, who have taken commerce, will not study social responsibilities of businesses and business ethics, as well as the role of businesses in environment protection, as part of their business studies paper this year, UP Board officials said.
On September 18, the Board had adopted a syllabus based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for Class 11 commerce students. On September 24, through a gazette notification, the state government implemented a 30% course reduction for this pandemic-hit academic year (2020-21) that has seen schools forced to remain closed for a substantial period of the year.
Under the 30% course reduction, social responsibilities of businesses and business ethics, role of businesses in environment protection, were left out from the course for the business studies paper, but only for this year.
Officials pointed out that the state government had implemented the decision to cut the syllabus for all streams by 30% this year on July 20 itself and even listed the topics that would be covered for every class and subject. However, delay in issuing of the government order for Class 11 commerce stream saw this process get delayed for them.
According to the amended curtailed syllabus finalised for commerce students, class 11 students will not be studying business services (banking, types of banks, work of commercial banks, e-banking and insurance etc), and international business-2. Likewise, in accountancy, students will not study bank reconciliation statement in unit 3, provisions and reserves in unit 4, incomplete records in unit 5 and use and accounting under database management system in Unit 7.
Five months after the start of the new academic session, UP Board introduced NCERT-based syllabus for its commerce stream students of class 11 on September 18. The decision also meant that the NCERT-based syllabus for commerce students of class 12 in more than 28,000 schools affiliated to the Board across the state would get introduced from the next session. As a result of the course change, the first class 12 exams based on the NCERT syllabus of commerce will take place in 2022.
In the past, the board has already introduced NCERT syllabus-based books for its arts and science stream students. The old syllabus prescribed one compulsory subject of Hindi or general Hindi, book keeping and accountancy and business organisation and correspondence besides any two out of economics and commercial geography, banking elements, industrial organisation, mathematics and elementary statistics, computer as well as insurance principles and behaviour besides two subjects out of humanities stream.
However, according to the new syllabus, students will now have general Hindi and business studies and accountancy as compulsory subjects besides any two optional subjects out of economics, English, mathematics and computer, officials said.