Page 48 - Education World July 2020

Teacher-2-Teacher

Time to rethink

history teaching

GITANJALI SURENDRAN

VER THE PAST DECADE, WE HAVE witnessed In the past, history was written as the
unprecedented churning in India. Iconic leaders
of the freedom movement including Mahatma story of nations and great men. Today
OGandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have been history’s subject matter is considerably
criticised and reviewed as never before. Different groups
in Indian society project new icons to take their place in more varied and includes narratives of
what a historian has described as “history wars”. Often, groups at the margins of society
these new icons have as complex a legacy as the ones they
are vying to replace. for objectivity. We dispute the presumption that official
But history wars are not an exclusively Indian phe-
nomenon. The Black Lives Matter campaign that erupted archives are the sole repositories of history. Moreover, in
the past, history was written as the story of nations and
after the horrific murder of African-American George great men. Today, history’s subject matter is consider-
Floyd has questioned why monuments to leaders of the ably more varied, and includes narratives of groups at the
southern confederacy of states that fought to maintain margins of society. The imperatives of social justice make
slavery and apartheid during the American civil war it incumbent on us to critique received histories in terms
(1861-65) occupy pride of place in many of America’s of their representation of caste, race, gender, class and
cities. Earlier this week in a surprising initiative, the king more.
of Belgium formally expressed regret to the people of o what does all this mean for teaching history in
the Democratic Republic of Congo whose experience of Sprimary-secondary schools? First, history textbooks
Belgian colonisation more than a century ago was one and teachers should present multiple and competing nar-
of the most savage and genocidal in modern history. Simi- ratives rather than merely impart information. Teachers
larly a few years ago, Dalits in Maharashtra were harshly should encourage students to discern core themes, and
prevented from celebrating the bravery of a Mahar place themselves in the shoes of people unlike them-
contingent that fought (on the side of the British) during selves, in a time that’s not their own. Second, we must
the battle of Bhima Koregaon which led to the final defeat teach them what historians do, and the historians’ craft.
of the Marathas in 1818. Dalits are questioning why their Third, we must not discourage students from question-
history should remain invisible in modern India. ing popular narratives. As teachers, we should encour-
This, in a nutshell is why teachers need to rethink how
to teach history in primary-secondary education. For age questions about the type of history they study and
speculate about narrators’ representation of people and
most school students, the study of history is restricted to their motivations.
memorising mind-numbing facts, figures and dates in a Fourth, we must encourage students to engage in
single narrative to be learned by rote and reproduced in age-appropriate learning that keeps a sense of play alive.
exams. Moreover, history has repeatedly been pressed History is a serious discipline but the possibilities of
into the service of the nation or states and every year story-telling through it, abound. Fifth, the study of history
controversies break out over inclusions and exclusions in should enhance skills that will come in handy for students
school history textbooks of different states. no matter what careers they pursue — language skills,
Therefore to rethink teaching history in schools, we ability to think clearly, to make persuasive evidence-based
must rethink history itself. On the one hand, there is the arguments, to empathise with groups of people with
discipline of history and its practice with established re- whom they have little in common, and to accept complex-
search protocols, sources, standards of evidence and nar- ity. Finally, history is a discipline that belongs to a broader
rative styles. On the other hand, the discipline of history grouping of associated disciplines known as the humani-
does not stand above the values of society and concerns ties. Radically rethinking how we teach history in school
about justice. E.H. Carr, the famous British historian, education will help teachers refocus on humanity and pre-
observed that history is the story of the past seen through pare a generation of young people prepared to take on the
present eyes. increasingly complex challenges of societies of the future.
The narratives of historians are inevitably influenced
The history we teach in schools and the way children
by concerns of their times. If in the past, historians learn it, is I believe a barometer for our social health. If
thought it was possible to write objectively about their that’s the yardstick, history as it is taught in the nation’s
chosen subjects based on research in government ar- schools requires emergency reinvention.
chives whose collection of documents was presumed to
represent the most truthful version of events, contempo- (An alumna of JNU, Oxford and Harvard universities, Dr. Gitanjali
rary historians tend to question the capability of anyone Surendran is associate professor of history at the Jindal Global Law
to write unbiased history even while consciously striving School, Delhi NCR)

48 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2020