'Entire procedure of textbook revision non-transparent, undemocratic'

Amid the controversy regarding 'saffronisation of textbooks' by the BJP-led state government, noted intellectuals say 'instead of focusing on bridging the gap among students due to the pandemic, people in power getting into pointless exercise'

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Jagruta Nagarikaru, Karnataka — a congregation of writers, academics, educationists and leaders of students’ organizations shared their perspectives on the issue of the revision of school textbooks.

At Gandhi Bhavan here on Wednesday, a draft of the congregation's objections and demands was released following which each member critiqued the recent developments about reforms in school textbooks.

Activist Sripad Bhat pointed out that the president of the committee was not an educationist.

"The entire procedure of revision was non-transparent and undemocratic. The committee should be dissolved and its recommendations must be rejected. We need to decentralize the process of textbook review to make it inclusive. Changing the content of textbooks according to the ruling party's wishes must be stopped," he said.

Educationist VP Niranjanaradhya observed that the committee had no consideration for the normative framework for the process of revising the books. "This is unconstitutional. The textbook is not a propaganda material," he said.

He recollected that the textbooks prepared under the National Curriculum Framework (2005) had the preamble of the Constitution in the beginning.
"This was to introspect whether the curriculum reflected the values enshrined in the Constitution. I feel there is no right or left today. There's one faction that respects the Constitution and another that has no regard for it," he said.

"The textbook issue is just a test dose. If we do not react to this, they will undo the efforts of making education inclusive and scientific over the last 60 years," he added.

Continuing the practice of recovering the worth of damages during riots from rioters in BJP-ruled states, the members of Jagruta Nagarikaru questioned whether the state government would recover the value of textbooks which are now useless after the revision.

"An RTI was filed and it was learnt that over six lakh books, totally worth over two crore rupees are now unusable due to the revision. Who will pay for these books now? The president of the committee or the minister," they asked.

Prof Rajendra Chenni said that a majoritarian state with a definite agenda has come into existence. “The textbook reform is part of a larger political mission. We must own the textbooks and strive to be participants in the decision-making process," he said and called upon the people of the state to develop a concern about what children are being taught at schools.

"A section of people is trying to set our houses and hearts on fire," veteran author H S Raghavendra Rao alleged. He stressed the discretion of the teachers and students irrespective of changes in books. "We must prepare and propagate another set of books in parallel to the modified textbooks. They may have destroyed plurality in the books, but they cannot do it in our society and among students," he said and added that more emphasis should be laid on the inclusion of folk literature in the curriculum.

Astrophysicist Prajval Shastri spoke about blunders in Science textbooks even before 2015.

"Myths have been passed off as science. Books published by Samskrita Bharati were used as references to mention science in ancient India," she said, giving the example of Dronacharya from Mahabharata being mentioned as a test-tube baby in a Science textbook.

Prof T R Chandrashekhar from Hampi University stressed the fact that this is not the right time to undertake revisions, but to focus on bridging the learning gap among children due to the pandemic.

Writer Banjagere Jayaprakash alleged that the party currently in power knows how to destroy but doesn't know how to build.

"Similarly, they know what portions to remove. They are clueless about what should be added in its place to instil the same values. Both Nagesh and Chakrathirtha must be dismissed," he said.

Activist Indudhar Honnapura accused the government of trying to establish Brahmin supremacy. "The committee has no expertise in primary education. They are introducing the speech by Hedgewar in which he denounced a person-centric approach and called for an ideological approach. This is poisonous," he said.

Vasundhara Bhupathi, a noted writer on medicine and health, said that the purport of the text by Bannanje Govindacharya was disrespect