The Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) under the Ministry of Education and Sports is revising Grade X curricula for 15 most sought-after subjects in SLC. Accordingly, the curricula for six compulsory subjects (English, Nepali, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science and Health, population and environment) have already been revised while CDC has submitted a draft to the National Curriculum Development and Evaluation Council for the revision of remaining nine subjects. The revision is expected to help upgrade school-level education in Nepal to comparable international standards and expurgate all references eulogising the institution of monarchy.

Revision of curriculum to the needs of the time should be a routine affair. But in the past, even vital revisions have been put off on various pretexts. The result has been that the students of government schools in many remote areas of the country are still forced to cram the same old stuff, much of which is no longer relevant and incongruous in times of break-neck technological and political advancements. Hence periodic revisions are the need of the hour. That said, however, tampering unreasonably with existing syllabus will not be a wise move in these fluid times. Socio-political matters should especially be dealt with caution for no one knows the final outcome of the current political crisis. There is also a legitimate case of incorporating essential materials from syllabus of lower standards into Grade X course so that SLC results reflect true knowledge and skills accumulated over the school years and not just the bare minimum required to sneak past the ‘iron gate’.