Parliament panel: Junk distortions of national heroes in NCERT books – Times of India

NEW DELHI: School textbooks should highlight the lives of hitherto unknown men and women from different states and districts, who have positively influenced national history, honour and oneness, says a parliamentary panel while stressing that NCERT should consider the suggestions received while framing the National Curriculum Framework.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in its report on “Reforms in Content and Design of School Text Books,” also suggested to incorporate ancient wisdom, knowledge and teachings about life and society from the Vedas and other great Indian texts in the school curriculum.

Chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe, the committee said NCERT and SCERTs should primarily focus on providing core content through their textbooks and to maintain uniformity in educational standards of school students across the country, the education ministry should explore the possibility of developing a core class-wise common syllabus for various subjects for implementation by CBSE, CICSE and various other state boards.

The 32-member committee’s report focuses on “removing references to un-historical facts and distortions about national heroes, ensuring equal or proportionate references to all periods of Indian history and highlighting the role of great historic women achievers, including Gargi, Maitreyi, or rulers like Rani of Jhansi, Rani Channamma, Chand Bibi, Zalkari Bai”. It comes in the backdrop of revision of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in the light of the New Education Policy-2020.

The panel received approximately 20,000 representations from experts, individuals and organisations, pointing to discrepancies/omissions in school textbooks. Speaking on history, the committee in its discussions with the stakeholders observed that “the United Nations, through one of its most important agencies, namely UNESCO, had formulated comprehensive guidelines for history which would foster world peace, tolerance and advancement of universal values of democracy and human rights. They emphasised on the need for highlighting social, economic, cultural and scientific history and the need for toning down the history of conflicts. Hitherto marginalized groups, especially women, and the values of ‘Unity in Diversity’ and ‘pluralism’ should gain prominence in the teaching of history”.

“Similarly, it was observed that school textbooks do not give adequate coverage to some of the great Indian empires like that of Vikramaditya, Cholas, Chalukyas, Vijaynagar, Gondwana or that of Travancore and Ahoms of North-Eastern region, whose contributions in expansion of India’s standing on the world stage cannot be ignored,”it said.