Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan seeking rollback of the deletions by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) of some important topics from school textbooks.
In his communication, the Minister expressed apprehension over the NCERT decision to omit important lessons and portions from textbooks in the name of syllabus rationalisation. The explanation given for introducing the changes was the situation during COVID-19 and the National Education Policy 2020.
However, it is assumed that dropping portions that students were supposed to study in Class 11 and 12 History, Political Science, Sociology, and Economics and removing Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution from Class 9 and 10 textbooks was not on account of academic reasons.
Chapters on peace, development, and rise of people’s movements, were cut from Class 11 and 12 Political Science textbooks. These important topics helped in forming a society and influenced our futures. Excluding them from the curriculum amounted to injustice to students and denied them the right to knowledge.
The Mughal period was also a time of cultural and artistic development. They also gave direction to Indian history. Neglecting this period would lead to incomplete ideas of our culture and heritage.
Removal of the theory of evolution from Class 9 and 10 textbooks was unfortunate. This too would deny students the right to know the fundamentals of science and nature.
The NCERT decision should be re-examined, Mr. Sivankutty said. Steps should be taken to ensure that students were provided with comprehensive and balanced education through textbooks that would equip them to gain the knowledge and skills needed to become responsible citizens and leaders. Serious interventions that would uphold the comprehensiveness of our educational tradition and teach students the rich and diverse history of our nation were needed, Mr. Sivankutty appealed to the Prime Minister and the Union Education Minister.