Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Government will entrust an expert committee to roll out supplementary textbooks comprising the portions omitted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as part of including them in the state school syllabus.
The meeting of the curriculum steering committee held on Tuesday had decided to prepare the special textbooks to teach the excluded topics like the RSS ban, the Gujarat riots, and Mughal history.
The concepts of the portions left out will be presented in a new manner in the new textbook. However, the SCERT’s primary assessment is that it will take at least two and a-half months to print the book and distribute it to the schools.
Meanwhile, State Education Minister V Sivankutty has written to the Prime Minister and the Union Education Minister, seeking to rescind the move to delete certain key portions from the syllabus. In the letter, the minister conveyed the state’s concern over the move to omit main chapters and portions in textbooks in the name of making the content ‘logical’.
The steering committee wanted to include the deleted portions in the Kerala school syllabus. A final decision, though, will be taken only after consulting with the chief minister. The Public Education Minister, who is also the chairman of the steering committee, has been entrusted with the task.
An expert panel will be constituted once the Chief Minister conveys the government’s decision on the matter.
The NCERT had omitted many potions in textbooks from Class 6 to 12 as part of the syllabus rationalisation exercise. They include lessons on the RSS ban, Gujarat riots, Mughal history, emergencies, the Cold War, and the Naxalite Movement.
A letter to the PM
The minister has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a review of the NCERT's recent controversial omission of certain portions from Classes 11 and 12 textbooks. In the letters sent to PM and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday, the state minister stated that it should be ensured that children are provided a comprehensive and balanced education through text books, which is necessary to mould them as responsible citizens and future leaders.
Expressing concern over the NCERT's decision to drop key chapters and portions from the textbooks in the name of rationalisation, he said it should be reviewed at the earliest. In the letter, the Kerala minister pointed out that it is mentioned that the new changes are based on the National Education Policy 2020 and the unprecedented situation due to COVID-19. But, the reason for exclusion of key chapters from Classes 11 and 12 textbooks and the theory of evolution from Classes 9 and 10 could not be considered as academic, he said.
The omission of significant topics like peace, development, the rise of people's movements and Mughal history was an injustice to the children, denying them an opportunity to learn and become good citizens, he added.
Sivankutty shot off the letter to the Centre after he had indicated that the portions deleted by the NCERT were likely to be taught in state schools. The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), an autonomous body of the General Education Department, is considering a decision by its curriculum steering committee to include these deleted portions in the state syllabus.
(With inputs from PTI)