UGC chairman defends NCERT textbook rationalisation, says ‘no merit for hue and cry’

NEW DELHI: University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar today defended the NCERT’s textbook rationalisation and said that there is “no merit in the hues and the cry of these ‘academicians’”. The statement comes after 73 academicians, including vice chancellors of central universities, directors of NITs and IIMs termed the withdrawal of names over the NCERT textbook row a "spectacle" by some "arrogant and self-interested" people.

Stating that the rationalisation carried out by the NCERT is justified, the UGC chairman said: “In the recent past, the attacks by some "academicians" on NCERT for revising the textbooks are unwarranted. The current textbook modifications are not the only ones carried out. NCERT has been revising textbooks from time to time in the past too.”

He also said that the NCERT has reiterated several times that the revision of textbooks originates from various stakeholders' feedback and suggestions.

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“NCERT has also confirmed that it is developing a new set of textbooks based on the recently launched National Curriculum Framework for School Education and that current textbooks in which the contents have been rationalized to reduce the academic load are only a temporary phase,” he said.

“There is no merit in the hue and the cry of these "academicians." The objective behind their grumbling seems to be other than academic reasons,” he added.

Kumar’s statement has come after a group of 33 academicians wrote to NCERT chairperson to remove their name from the textbook development team on Thursday. The academics were a part of the textbook development committee for books created in 2006-07 based on the 2005 version of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). Earlier, former advisors for NCERT books and political scientist, Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav made the same demand on grounds of “mutilated and dysfunctional” rationalisation of NCERT books.

Several subject experts, academicians, teachers have expressed their concern over the deletion of chapters from history, political science and other subjects. The NCERT, on the other hand, has been emphasizing on why the revision of textbooks was pivotal during the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest revision of textbooks is done in line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, the NCERT in its statement said earlier.