CBSE Class 12 History Syllabus 2026-27

HISTORY SUBJECT CODE: 027 CLASS: XII (2026-27)

RATIONALE

The History curriculum introduces the students to a set of important historical events and processes through a focus on a series of historical issues, debates and through various sources. Discussion of these themes would allow students not only to know about the events and processes, but also to discover the excitement of reading history. However, practical way of assessing whether the learning objectives have been actualised or not, can be ensure d by the way of having stated outcomes. These outcomes have been enumerated against the learning objectives so that the concerned teachers and their students can adopt different kinds of constructive strategies and competency-based assessment techniques. It is also to be understood that the learning objectives and their outcomes are essentially linked and complementary to each other.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

History gives us the tools to analyse and explain problems in the past, it helps us to see the patterns that might otherwise be not known in the present. It provides a crucial perspective for understanding and solving the current and future problems.

Studying the diversity of human experience helps us appreciate cultures, ideas, and traditions and to recognise them as meaningful outcomes of specific times and places. History helps us realise how different is our life from that of our ancestors, yet how similar we are in our goals and values. With lessons from the past, we not only learn about ourselves and how we came to be, but also develop the ability to avoid mistakes and create better paths for our societies.

The subject emphasises that history is a critical discipline, a process of enquiry, a way of knowing about the past, rather than just a collection of facts. The syllabus would help them to understand the process through which historians write history, by choosing and assembling different types of evidence, and by reading their sources critically. They will appreciate how historians follow the trails that lead to the past, and how historical knowledge develops.

The syllabus would also enable students to store/relate/compare developments in different situations, analyse connections between similar processes located in different time periods, and discover the relationship between different methods of enquiry within history and the allied disciplines.

THEMES IN CLASS XII

In class XII the focus will shift to a detailed study of some themes in ancient, medieval, and modern Indian history although the attempt is to soften the distinction between what is conventionally termed as ancient, medieval and modern. The object would be to study a set of these themes in some detail and depth rather than survey the entire chronological span of Indian history. In this sense the course will be built on the knowledge that the students have acquired in the earlier classes.

Each theme in class XII will also introduce the students to one type of source for the study of history. Through such a study, students would begin to see what different types of sources can reveal and what they cannot tell. They would come to know how historians analyse these sources, the problems, and difficulties of interpreting each type of source, and the way a larger picture of an event, a historical process, or a historical figure, is built by looking at different types of sources.

Each theme for class XII will be organised around four sub heads:

1. A detailed overview of the events, issues, and processes under discussion.
2. An account of how knowledge about the theme has been acquired.
3. A summary of the present state of research on the theme.
4. An excerpt from a primary source related to the theme, explaining how it has been said by historians.

While the themes in both the class (XII) are arranged in a broad chronological sequence, there are overlaps between them. This is intended to convey a sense that chronological divides and periodization do not always operate in a neat fashion. In the textbooks each theme would be located in a specific time and place. But these discussions would be situated within a wider context by.....

• Plotting the specific event within timelines.
• Discussing the event or process in relation to the developments in other places and other times.

CLASS XII COURSE STRUCTURE

Theory Paper

S.No. Part Marks

1 Themes in Indian History Part--I 25

2 Themes in Indian History Part—II 25

3 Themes in Indian History Part—III 25

4 Мар 05

Total 80

Note-The Maps available in the website of Survey of India may be used.(https://surveyofindia.gov.in/)

Themes in Indian History Part-I 25 Marks

Sr No. Marks

Bricks, Beads and Bones 1 The Harappa Civilisation 2 Kings, Farmers and Towns 25

Early States and Economies (c.600 BCE 600 CE) Kingship, Caste and class 3 Early Societies (c. 600 BCE600 CE) Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings 4 Cultural Developments (c. 600 BCE 600 CE) Themes in Indian History Part-II 25 marks

Through the eyes of Travellers 5 Perceptions of Society (c. tenth to seventeenth centuries) Bhakti-Sufi Traditions 6

Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth 25 centuries) 7 An Imperial Capital – Vijayanagar (c. fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) 8 Peasants, zamindars and the States Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)

Themes in Indian History Part-III 25 marks

09 Colonialism and The Countryside Exploring Official Archives Rebels and Raj 10 1857 Revolt and its Representations 25

Mahatma Gandhi and the National Movement 11 Civil Disobedience and Beyond 12 Framing of the Constitution The Beginning of a New Era Including Map work of the related Themes 05

Theory Total 80

Project Work 20 100 Note-The Maps available in the official website of Govt., of India may be used

CLASS XII COURSE CONTENT

Theme No. and Title Learning outcome with specific competencies

Themes in Indian History Part – I

• Investigate, explore and interpret the early urban centres and 1

social institutions.

BRICKS, BEADS State and deduce the multi-lateral aspects of Harappan civilisation AND BONES to understand the first civilization of the world.

The Harappan ** Investigate and interpret historical and contemporary sources and Civilisation viewpoints of ASI and historians on Harappa.

• Critically evaluate and interpret major trends in the political and 2 economic history of the subcontinent.

KINGS, FARMERS AND * Decode inscriptional evidence. TOWNS * Analyse inscriptional evidences and the ways in which these have Early States and shaped the understanding of political and economic processes. Economies (c.600 BCE 600 CE)