The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to reduce its syllabus for 2020-21 academic session by 30% in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government said on Tuesday. 

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced that the CBSE was advised to revise the curriculum and reduce course load for the students of Class 9th to 12th. 

The decision, he said, has been taken due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world. 

"To aid the decision, a few weeks back I also invited suggestions from all educationists on the reduction of #SyllabusForStudents2020 and I am glad to share that we received more than 1.5K suggestions. Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming response," Nishank said.

"Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize syllabus up to 30% by retaining the core concepts," he said in a tweet. 

Earlier, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) announced a reduction of up to 25% in syllabus for classes 10 and 12 board exams in 2021 taking into account the learning disruption due to closure of schools during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Last month, both CBSE and ICSE cancelled the remaining Board examinations for classes X and XII, which were scheduled to be held in July.