THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a clear move to resist the NCERT’s decision to drop certain portions from Class 12 textbooks, Kerala has decided not to follow the same. The state is planning to bring out customised textbooks, which are in line with the state’s general and peculiar characteristics.
Currently, the state follows NCERT syllabus for textbooks at the higher secondary level -- Classes 11 and 12 -- for subjects like History, Political Science, Economics, Geography and Science.
The NCERT had recently deleted certain important portions from Political Science and History textbooks, including certain passages on Mahatma Gandhi, his assassin Nathuram Godse, the 1948 ban on the RSS, the 2002 Gujarat riots and Mughal Empire.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the state will not support the NCERT move. If required, the state government is ready to bring out supplementary textbooks with the deleted portions, the minister said on Saturday.
NCERT should be reorganised, include state representatives, says Sivankutty
Sivankutty demanded that the NCERT should be reorganised. The state will not accept the Union government’s move to distort history in textbooks, he said. “The NCERT should be reorganised by including representatives of each state. The attempt is to impose the RSS agenda through textbooks. Kerala will not support this move. Nothing can be imposed on Kerala,” Sivankutty said. He added that if the state’s objections are not taken into consideration, the state will look into the possibility of bringing out supplementary textbooks. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) will communicate its objections to the NCERT. After this, a decision on the future course of action will be taken. General Education secretary P A Mohammad Haneesh told The New Indian Express that the state plans to bring out customised textbooks.
“The state will bring out customised textbooks, by ensuring that the state’s characteristics remain intact. It will be done in line with the National Education Policy,” he said. Former SCERT director J Prasad opined that exclusion of certain portions from the Indian history will create two kinds of citizens. “The NCERT syllabus is the same in the CBSE curriculum too. Deleting key portions from history will create a divide in the society. NCERT has turned out to be a scarecrow now,” he told The New Indian Express.
The state’s move to bring out customised textbooks comes at a time when the NCERT is going to introduce new books for all classes on the basis of the National Education Policy. According to the NCERT, changes were made not only in history books but in other subjects as well, so as to reduce additional burden on students.