New Delhi:

Hatred and violence are not subjects of education and school textbooks should not focus on them, the chief of the country’s top education body NCERT has said amid a row over the latest tweaks in its books. The tweaks include removal of references to Babri Masjid demolition and the BJP’s Ram Rath Yatra led by its veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani.

The curriculum prepared by NCERT is followed by nearly 30,000 schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

In an interview to news agency PTI, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani rejected accusations of saffronisation of the school curriculum and said the tweaks in textbooks are part of an annual revision.

Asked why references to the Babri masjid demolition or communal violence in its wake were removed, Mr Saklani replied, “Why should we teach about riots in school textbooks? We want to create positive citizens, not violent and depressed individuals”.

“Should we teach our students in a manner that they become offensive, create hatred in society or become victim of hatred? Is that education’s purpose? Should we teach about riots to such young children… when they grow up, they can learn about it, but why school textbooks. Let them understand what happened and why it happened when they grow up. The hue and cry about the changes is irrelevant,” he added.

The new political science textbook for Class 12 describes Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid, which was demolished on December 6,1992, as a “three-domed structure” and focuses on the Supreme Court judgment that paved the way for the construction of the Ram temple.

“If Supreme Court has given a verdict in favour of Ram temple, Babri masjid or Ram janmabhoomi, should it not be included in our textbooks, what is the problem in that? We have included the new updates. If we have constructed new Parliament, should our students not know about it? It is our duty to include the ancient developments and recent developments,” he said.

Responding to allegations of saffronisation, Mr Saklani said, “If something has become irrelevant, it will have to be changed. Why shouldn’t it be changed? I don’t see any saffronisation here. We teach history so that students know about facts, not for making it a battleground”.

The NCERT chief also questioned how teaching about the Indian knowledge system amounted to saffronisation. “If we are telling about iron pillar in Mehrauli and saying Indians were way ahead of any metallurgical scientist, are we wrong? How can it be saffronisation?” he asked.

The 61-year-old has earlier headed the ancient history department at Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University before he took charge of NCERT in 2022.

Updating textbooks, he said, was a global practice and in the interest of education. “Whatever is changed is decided by subject and pedagogy experts. I do not dictate or interfere in the process. There is no imposition from the top,” he said.

This is the fourth round of revision of NCERT textbooks since 2014.

New Delhi:

India’s strides in research on the Arctic, Antarctica and the Himalayas may soon figure in school textbooks, with the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences reaching out to the NCERT to include the latest developments in its curriculum.

Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary M Ravichandran said the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has constituted a committee to bring out the importance of research in these areas in school textbooks.

“We wrote a letter to them… they (NCERT) have recently constituted a committee for bringing out importance of the Antarctica expedition, Arctic and also the Himalayas and some other aspects, including climate change. They are working on it,” Ravichandran said during an interaction with PTI editors.

The Antarctica expedition finds mention in NCERT textbooks but the content hasn’t been updated for a long time. There is very limited mention of the ongoing research in the Arctic and the Himalayan regions, too.

In a rationalisation exercise post COVID-19, the NCERT dropped topics such as climate change, monsoon and greenhouse effect from textbooks, triggering a controversy.

The council later clarified that the subjects had been dropped to reduce curriculum load in view of the pandemic and added that the topics would be restored with the release of books based on the new curriculum framework.

These books are currently being worked on and will be available for all classes by 2026.

The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences is hosting the 46th meeting of the ATCM, the highest governing body for Antarctica, and the 26th CEP meeting.

The crucial meets will be held in Kochi from May 20-30 where countries engaged in research in the southern polar region will share the outcome of their scientific pursuits and future plans.

India has two active research stations — Maitri and Bharti — in Antarctica. The first research station, Dakshin Gangotri, set up in 1983, had to be abandoned after it sank in the snow.

Thamban Meloth, director of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), said several students involved in the research have been to Antarctica in recent years.

“We have not taken any high school students so far but several senior students involved in the research have been to Antarctica,” he said in response to a question.

Asked about possibilities of introducing a programme such as Students on Ice for Indian school students, Meloth said, “It is not logistically feasible. It costs around Rs 1 crore to send a single person to Antarctica… there are lot of other logistical issues too when it comes to high school students.

The Students on Ice programme is run by Canadian educator and environmentalist Geoff Green, under which high school students from across the globe, accompanied by educators and scientists, get an opportunity travel to Antarctica and the Arctic.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The political row over proposal to refer to India as “Bharat” in NCERT textbooks snowballing, the man behind the proposal told NDTV today that it was only meant for students of CBSE and in classrooms. “At home they can say whatever,” retired Professor CI Issacs told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Mr Issacs is heading the Committee for Social Sciences, which made the recommendation that has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Amid Opposition attack, NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has said no decision has been taken regarding the recommendations, made in response to move to revise the curriculum in line with the National Education Policy 2020.  

Along with replacing the name “India” with “Bharat” in textbooks, the panel has also suggested introducing “classical history”, instead of “ancient history” and including “Indian Knowledge System” in the syllabus.

Asked why this change is needed at this point, Professor Issacs said they were not “removing” anything.   

“Our mindset is toned by colonial education. Now it is a new education system. New chapter. Something new is needed, nothing traditional,” he said, citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for an update in the country’s education policy.  

Calling the change “essential”, he said it has the backing of a number of academicians who were not part of the committee.

Asked if the move does not open another Pandora’s box of opposition charges about politicization of education, Mr Issacs said, “We never think about election.  None of my team are involved in politics. Five are ladies. Housewives”.

On why this had to be included in textbooks, he said it was for the teachers.  

“Of course teachers will say India,” he said, pointing out that they were also products of colonial education, like himself, who also says India. The change, he said, can be effected in the textbooks of senior classes, starting from Class 8.  

India and Bharat are names mentioned in the very first article of the Constitution. Asked why, in that case, it could not be left to individual choice, he said the rule is applicable only to CBSE students.   

The Opposition has called the proposal an effort to “indoctrinate an entire generation”.  

Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Jha has called it a “panic reaction to INDIA bloc”. “Article 1 of the Constitution says “India that is Bharat”. The people who framed it, Babasaheb Ambedkar. Nehru, Azad, Patel – they thought something?” he said. Then holding up a copy of the Constitution, he said, “Will this be the next target?”

“This is anti-people, anti-India. This is completely wrong. I appeal to government. You can’t change the history of India,” said Congress’s DK Shivakumar.  

The Bharat-India controversy had started when the government sent out G20 invites in the name of “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India”. Later, the nameplate of PM Modi during the G20 summit in New Delhi also read “Bharat”, instead of India.