Keep politics out of our textbooks

Is there an ingenious way we can keep our textbooks free from chauvinistic politics that makes each party in power tinker with the content of these books once they assume the reins of governance? It’s happening again with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) deciding to remove chapters on the Mughal Empire from the 12th standard syllabus.

Changes have also been made in the textbook content for Class 10, obviously to suit the preferences and priorities of those now in power. These attempts at ‘streamlining’ the content of textbooks, which will influence young minds, have invited severe criticism in the past and they will do so in the future too.

In Karnataka too, attempts to revise textbook content to suit the whims and fancies of the ruling party had come in for flak in recent months. A raging controversy had broken out after content on social reformer Sree Narayana Guru was removed and the works of a writer like P Lankesh dropped. The textbook revision committee chairman had to resign before the government after its bit of fire-fighting, ensuring that the controversy died out.

Those in charge of textbook content and those assigned the task of revising it, will obviously have to be extremely careful as they go about their task for we are dealing with young minds who could very well be misguided if the right kind of information, evolved in tune with the secular and democratic foundations of this great nation, is not provided to them in textbooks. Separating fact from fiction and making sure every story on historic personalities presents both sides of the story, is one way to make sure distortions do not creep in because of the overzealous efforts of politically minded experts.

There are historic facts that cannot be denied whether we like them or not. There were rulers who were despots no doubt and there were those who earned name and fame because of their good deeds, and these are historical truths that cannot be wished away or brushed aside. Presenting the good and bad facts and letting the reader or student arrive at his or her own conclusion would be the ideal option for the historian to make sure he does not wade into a controversy over biased content.

But making sure this does happen requires sagacity and a broad-minded vision that is not easy to come in an age when chauvinistic and jingoistic passions run high. And one cannot help wondering if students can be taken for a ride by just altering textbook content in an age when every piece of info, right or wrong, good or bad, left or right, is available at the click of a button on computers and mobile screens.

Anyone who tries to inject prejudiced views and one-sided content into textbooks would be doing it at his own peril, for it would only invite ridicule from a generation that is much more equipped and informed that those who went to school maybe three decades ago. So the question we should be asking ourselves is: Why try to change content and present a one-sided view of history when it is out there on the world-wide web in black and white? Facts matter and so does the truth, so let’s keep the debate on historical figures and events as dispassionate and unbiased as we can.