Kerala Minister welcomes Supreme Court ban on NCERT class 8 book, seeks probe into revisions

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court's intervention in the controversy over alleged remarks disrespecting the judiciary in an NCERT Class 8 textbook, and called for a comprehensive investigation into recent textbook revisions.

In a Facebook post, the minister welcomed the apex court's strong stand against references that allegedly undermined the judiciary. According to him, providing students with misleading messages about the judicial system was a serious offence and including content that belittles the judiciary was extremely unfortunate.

"The younger generation must be taught to respect constitutional institutions," he said. The minister also demanded that all recent NCERT textbook revisions and deletions be examined by an independent expert committee. "It must be investigated whether there were attempts to distort history and constitutional values," he said.

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He pointed out that Kerala had earlier opposed unilateral deletions by NCERT and had published additional textbooks that incorporated key portions removed by NCERT. "Those who led the preparation of the controversial content and those who approved it should face strict action.

The NCERT Director and others concerned were bound to provide clear answers to the questions raised by the court," he said. According to him, the state's position is that a comprehensive inquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court is necessary, and that communalism or anti-constitutional tendencies will not be allowed to enter the field of education.

The Supreme Court on Thursday imposed a blanket ban on the class 8 NCERT book that includes a chapter on corruption in the judiciary and ordered the seizure of all physical copies, along with the takedown of its digital versions. The apex court ordered that the Centre and state authorities comply with its directions immediately, and warned of "serious action" if directions are defied in any form.

The top court issued show cause notices to the NCERT Director and the school education secretary to explain why action should not be taken against those responsible.