NCERT textbook changes 'injustice to students', reverse them: Kerala education minister asks PM Modi

NEW DELHI: Kerala education minister V Sivankutty has written to prime minister Narendra Modi and union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan asking them to reconsider and revoke the changes introduced in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks.

The minister also said that Kerala will decide on teaching the deleted portions following a discussion with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Education minister V Sivankutty said that removing topics relating to peace, development and fundamental rights in the NCERT textbooks is an “injustice” to students that will “rob them of the opportunity to become good citizens”.

“The rationalisation is justified in the name of the unique situation caused by the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Covid-19. However, removing evolution from the textbooks in Classes 9 and 10, and removing the important concepts from science, history, political science and economics textbooks in Classes 11 and 12 does not seem to be an academic decision,” the education minister V Sivankutty said in a release.

Mughal era a period of achievements

The Mughal era was an era of important achievements in arts and culture and ignoring them will lead to an incomplete understanding of Indian history, the minister wrote.

The minister, who chairs the SCERT committee formed to study textbook rationalisaton, said that the decision to teach the deleted portions will be taken after discussions with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Sivankutty also said that the majority of the members of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) committee formed to look at the NCERT rationalisation have agreed that the dropped topics should be continued to be taught.

The SCERT, which is in charge of prescribing textbooks for government schools in Kerala, relies on NCERT books for Classes 11 and 12. Currently, 44 NCERT textbooks are used for Classes 11 and 12.