Kamal Haasan takes jibe at CBSE's removal of chapters; suggests Mein Kampf 'stress-buster'

As the removal of chapters in the Central Board of Secondary Education sparked a political row, even Kamal Haasan expressed his displeasure. The Makkal Needhi Maiam chief took a sarcastic jibe at the board over the decision to ‘reduce stress.’ The actor-politician suggested alternatives like Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as ‘stress buster’ for students.

READ: CBSE Drops Nationalism, Citizenship & Demonetisation Chapters In Revised Syllabus Due To Covid

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Kamal Haasan wrote that topics like Secularism, Citizenship, Democratic rights and Goods and Services Tax were the chapters deleted from the CBSE syllabus to ‘reduce students' stress’. The Indian 2 star suggested controversial German dictator Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf, a book on the history of extremist American hate group Ku Klux Klan and Marquis de Sade’s 1791 novel Justine set before French Revolution as ‘stress buster’ alternatives.

Here’s the post 

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and  Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had objected to the omission of the chapters. The former said she was ‘shocked’ and urged the HRD Ministry to ensure the ‘vital lessons are not curtailed.’ Sisodia urged the CBSE to explain the ‘strong reasons.’

READ: CBSE Syllabus: CBSE Omits Chapter On Partition From Class 12th Syllabus

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBSE notified the rationalisation of 30 per cent of the syllabus of classes 9 to 12 for the 2020-21 academic session. 

Chapters on democracy and diversity, gender, religion and caste, popular struggles and movement and challenges to democracy are among those omitted for Class 10. For Class 11, chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism and growth of local governments in India were deleted.  India's relations with its neighbours - Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, the changing nature of India's economic development, social movements in India and demonetisation were chapters that the Class 12 syllabus won’t feature.

As the development sparked a controversy, the CBSE cleared that the topics have been ‘wrongly mentioned in media as deleted’ and that they ‘have been covered under the alternative academic calendar of NCERT.’ It added that the  rationalisation was being "interpreted differently".

Union HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' also slammed the critics for creating a ‘false narrative’ and stated that the decision was taken in consultation with experts.

READ: CBSE Revised Curriculum For 2020-21: Up To 30% Syllabus Rationalized For Class 9-12

READ: Delhi DyCM Asks CBSE To Give 'very Strong' Reasons For Dropping Chapters From Curriculum