Page 14 - EW JULY PDF

Education News

DELHI sity of Singapore, and former JNU
Packing apprehension professor Rajeev Bhargava have

called out NCERT for “jeopardising
the collective efforts” of the Textbook
Development Committee (TDC)
of the year 2006-07. In a letter to
Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director of
NCERT, they have raised concerns
about the potential negative impact
of the recent rationalisation process
on their collaborative and innovative
work as part of the TDC.
In response to Palshikar and Ya-
dav’s resignation letter, NCERT has
declined their request to remove their
names. “Textbooks at the school level
are developed based on the state of
our knowledge and understanding on
a given subject. Therefore, at no stage
individual authorship is claimed,
hence the withdrawal of association
Palshikar (left) & Yadav: academia & media stir by any one is out of the question,”
says a NCERT circular issued on June
ven as the national council manner and should not quell the 9. Moreover, NCERT spokespersons
of Educational Research and spirit of critique and questioning say that children’s curriculum load
ETraining (NCERT) — the among students of social sciences. had to be reduced because of the pro-
country’s largest school textbook These textbooks as they stand now do longed closure of schools — averaging
publisher — is struggling with writing not serve the purpose of training stu- 82 weeks nationwide — during the
textbooks to implement the 623-page dents of political science in both the Covid-19 pandemic.
National Curriculum Framework for principles of politics and the broad However, these explanations have
School Education 2023 prescribed by patterns of political dynamics that cut no ice with the two academics
a steering committee chaired by Dr. have occurred over time,” they wrote because of the similarity between the
K. Kasturirangan, author of the Na- in the resignation letter. omissions in the revised textbooks
tional Education Policy (NEP) 2020, These resignations have created and Hindu majoritarian philosophy
two highly respected academics — a stir in academia and the media be- and electoral rhetoric of the BJP
Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra cause Palshikar and Yadav are highly which rules at the Centre. It’s hardly
Yadav — have written to NCERT to respected academics. Palshikar is a a coincidence that the excised chap-
remove their names from all NCERT former professor of political science ters include omission of almost three
political science textbooks listing at the high ranked Savitribai Phule centuries of Muslim Mughal rule
them as advisors. University, Pune and chief editor over India, the assassination of Ma-
The two academics have resigned of Studies in Indian Politics while hatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse,
in protest against NCERT having Yadav is a former member of the a member of the RSS (Rashtriya
excluded all references to the Mughal National Advisory Council of the Swayamsevak Sangh), the ideologi-
era (1526-1865), the Emergency UPA-Congress government, a promi- cal mentor organisation of the ruling
(1975-77) imposed by the late prime nent television commentator and BJP and the Gujarat riots of 2002
minister Indira Gandhi, literary promoter-president of the Swaraj which claimed 1,044 lives (mostly
contribution of Dalit writers, Gujarat India Party. Muslims) while Narendra Modi (now
communal riots (2002) and Naxalite Following Palshikar and Ya- prime minister at the Centre) was
movement from revised sociology dav’s resignation, 33 academicians chief minister of Gujarat.
and political science textbooks for including Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Meanwhile within academia,
classes IX-XII. The academics say the well-known public intellectual, there’s rising apprehension about
they were neither informed nor con- Radhika Menon (Delhi University), the BJP at the Centre and in the
sulted about these revisions. Nivedita Menon (Jawaharlal Nehru states packing organisations such as
“Textbooks cannot and should not University), Kanti Prasad Bajpai, NCERT, ICHR and numerous regula-
be shaped in this blatantly partisan Vice-Dean at the National Univer- tory councils and committees decreed

14 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2023