Kerala government reinstates chapters removed by NCERT in Class 11, 12 books

New Delhi: The Kerala government has decided that it will include the chapters such as assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the Gujarat riots, which were removed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), in Classes 11 and 12.

The state education department will distribute supplementary textbooks to Classes 11 and 12 students. Kerala education minister V Sivankutty said these supplementary textbooks will be given to students next month. “The books will cover assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarat riots, India under Jawaharlal Nehru and other chapters that were deleted from the NCERT history books,” he told the mediapersons. The NCERT had removed these portions as part of its ‘syllabus rationalisation’ process.

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Kerala only uses Class 11 and 12 textbooks of the NCERT. Earlier, the Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) had decided to distribute supplementary textbooks by a curriculum committee. It had said that the SCERT will teach the chapters that the NCERT had deleted from the Classes 11 and 12 books.

Sivankutty said that the curriculum committee had formed a sub-committee to look into the chapters that were deleted. The latter has recommended teaching these portions in the schools of Kerala, he added.

“The new supplementary books include the removed chapters. The books will be distributed after the Onam holidays. The Class 11 and 12 examination will also include these chapters.,” the minister said.The state government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had criticised the NCERT’s decision to remove these portions during the rationalisation process.