BENGALURU: The Karnataka Textbooks Society, has finally submitted its report on Tipu Sultan in school textbooks, to the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) on Monday. According to sources, the Special committee report recommended that the chapter on Tipu should remain in textbooks of Class 6, 7 and 10th.
“We have submitted the report to the department and in turn, they will submit it to the state government. It is now left to the discretion of the government whether to retain it as is or remove it,” said Prof Ashwath Narayana, Mysuru University, one of the members of the committee. However, he denied to comment on whether the report suggests to retain the text as was mentioned in its draft report or whether to remove it. “It is confidential and it is not right for me to comment,” said Ashwath Narayana.
Meanwhile, he rubbished media reports claiming that the delay in submitting the report was due to political pressure. According to sources, the present report, is submitted in two sections — one regarding primary school textbooks and another regarding high school textbooks.
“If a chapter on Tipu is removed then the link to the history of Mysuru and the role of Tipu Sultan and Mysuru Empire’s fight against the British will be lost. Four Mysuru wars which talk about the battle against the British have been analysed and it was decided that it is very important to keep the chapters as is,” said a source.
Interestingly, even Chief Minsiter B S Yediyurappa wanted the chapters to be removed and had said earlier, “Such topics must not find a place in our textbooks. We are not going to allow such things to happen, and that is 101% certain.”However, when TNIE contacted the education minister Suresh Kumar’s office, they said, “The report has not yet reached us. We will be in a position to comment only when it is officially submitted to the state government.”
The controversy over the issue of removing a chapter on Tipu started when Madikeri MLA Apachu Ranjan wrote a letter to Minister Suresh Kumar, asking him to issue an order to remove the chapter from history textbooks. On October 28, the education minister stated that a committee comprising of experts would be formed to determine whether the chapters should be removed.
Baragur Ramachandrappa, former chairman of the textbook committee, had earlier said that the BJP government in 2008 had allegedly formed a committee to decide whether the chapter on Tipu Sultan must be included in the syllabus. At the time, the expert committee had allegedly concluded that the chapter stays, with some minor additions to the existing lesson.