Authors who sought withdrawal of works fearing ‘saffronisation of textbooks’ unhappy with govt move

Rachana Ramesh | NT

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government , which had chosen to withdraw the works of seven writers from textbooks provided in schools, revoked its decision recently. The Department of Public Instruction has now undone its September 23,2022 order which directed schools not to teach lessons by seven authors from the academic year 2022-23.

In a fresh order released on October 28, the department said that the school must teach these lessons and also have them as part of the portions for exams during this academic year. Students and teachers are left confused by the move.

On the other hand, the seven authors Devanur Mahadeva, G Ramakrishna, Rupa Hassan, Eerappa M Kambali, Satish Kulkarni, Sukanya Maruti and Doddahulluru Rukkojirao, who had demanded that their texts be withdrawn are also not pleased with the move by the government.

‘No decency even to inform on our writings’ The authors had withdrawn their permission to include their works in the revised textbooks, soon after the textbook revision occurred under the Rohith Chakrathirtha-led committee.

The committee had brought in a speech by RSS founder K B Hedgewar as a lesson in the Class 10 Kannada textbook, along with many other changes. Owing to the “saffronisation” of the textbooks, the authors asked for their texts to be withdrawn, after which the September 23 circular followed.

Rupa Hassan was the third writer to write to B C Nagesh in May, withdrawing the approval she gave to include one of her poems, Ammanaguvudendare, in the third language Kannada textbook for Class 9. “A handful of senior writers, upset over the developments of the textbook revision, had already withdrawn their consent to include their writings in the revised books,” Hassan said, explaining that the textbook committee having no women members, the removal of writings by women, and the curriculum not falling under the national framework were major issues that made her choose to withdraw.

She said that the revision was done to suit the ideology of the ruling party. Hassan only received a response from the government in the month of September, asking her to reconsider the decision as the books had been printed, which she then denied.

“They were not up for a dialogue with us. They did not ask us why we chose to withdraw, nor did they make any attempts to rectify their mistakes,” Hassan said. While she was not notified when her poem was withdrawn, as she had requested, she was not notified when it was reintroduced either. “I found out from media personnel that it will be taught through this academic year.

The department does not even have the decency to let us know what they are doing with our writing. I had provided my consent to the previous textbook committee, and as a writer, it is my legal right to know,” she said, condemning the move by the government.

On October 14, the Minister for School Education and Literacy, B C Nagesh, asked officials to go ahead with the continuation of the dropped lessons through this academic year. The circular mentioned that it was not practical to drop the lessons in the middle of an ongoing academic year and that they would be continued only for this year.