NEW DELHI: The National Council for Educational Research and Technology (NCERT) on Friday called upon individuals or organisations who have a copy of the banned textbook to hand it over to its head office in Delhi at the earliest.
This comes amid the Supreme Court’s blanket ban announced for its new Class 8 Social Science book on Thursday.
The advisory said, “NCERT requests any individual or organisation in possession of the NCERT textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond, Social Science Grade 8 Part 2, or any material related to it, to return it to the Head, Department of Education in Social Sciences or the Publication Division, NCERT, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi, at the earliest. We also request that any content related to the chapter, 'Role of Judiciary in our Society’ if posted on any of the social media or digital platforms be deleted at the earliest.”
It also appealed to anyone who bought a copy of the textbook from anywhere to return it immediately to the NCERT.
A senior official told TNIE earlier that a total of 2.5 lakh textbooks had been printed as on date.
“Only 38 of them were sold at our head office on the day of release on Monday. We stopped the sale the following day. The buyers have been tracked down, and only ten copies are yet to be taken back by the Publications Division of NCERT. Following the ban, they have to return it as it is illegal to keep a copy of the book in their possession,” he said.
It quoted the Apex court’s order issued on February 26 in support of its advisory: “A complete blanket ban is hereby imposed on any further publication, re-printing or digital dissemination of the book titled `Exploring Society, India and Beyond’. Any attempt to circumvent this order through electronic media or alternative titles, containing the same contents, shall be treated as a direct interference, willful breach and defiance of the directions issued herein above."
It is being reiterated that the NCERT has withdrawn the textbook, the advisory added.
The controversy in the book revolved around a specific section which spoke of alleged corruption in the judiciary with supporting data on the alleged complaints received against the judiciary for a five-year period from 2017.
NCERT had apologised for its inadvertent mistake while the Education Ministry has assured a probe and punishment of the guilty.