BENGALURU: While the education department has appointed a committee to revise contentious content in school textbooks, the move has drawn opposition due to the fact that the committee head is a promoter of the BJP. The appointment of Rohith Chakrathirtha, member, Kannada Abhivruddhi Pradhikara (Kannada Development Authority) and member of State Intellectual Cell, BJP Karnataka, has rekindled apprehensions of saffronisation of textbooks.
The All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) on Tuesday gave a clarion call to education experts, students, teachers and the public to raise their voice and save education, from what they believe would be an erosion of scientific temper and democratic values.
The committee of 15, including subject matter experts such as Dr Rajaram Hegde, head of History department, Kuvempu University, those involved in teaching in schools, members of Prof G S Mudambadithaya’s textbook writing committee (2015) and members of Prof Baraguru Ramachandrappa-headed textbook revision committee (2017) will rectify mistakes in the textbooks, Chakrathirtha told TNIE. While the committee has been given time till October to file its report, a meeting is yet to be convened with all members. It is likely to take place by next week, said Chakrathirtha.
Corrections will include deviations from fact, he said. The committee would check not just the 2017 revisions by the Baraguru Ramachandrappa-headed committee, but also the content of new textbooks by the Prof Mudambadithaya Committee in 2015, and would rectify any excessive ideological leanings, be it left or right. The final recommendations will be forwarded to the Karnataka Textbook Society for approval.
Meanwhile, AISEC contended that textbook revision under Baraguru Ramachandrappa was democratically and scientifically done, and no political ideology was promoted.