SAVE NCERT TEXTBOOKS

'What is the use of a book', thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?' -Lewis Carroll

It has been more than a week of cartoon saga, and the issue is politicized in wrong direction. From today onwards media has jumped to some other issues. Past week if one can follow the ‘cartoon issue’ in national dailies, we find series of arguments by scholars. What happens when academic matter is converted into a political one? We rejoice on what, Socrates death or Caesar’s?

It is not the first time that there is political vox on textbooks at secondary and higher secondary level. Allegations like saffronization of books during the NDA rule in form of Ramayana and Mahabharata textbooks in language syllabus. Even before that there were some issues, but let us not gaze on timeline or treat past as prelude. The reason being, there was dark in a lion’s den from thousand years, but someone enters, and lit the match and the darkness doesn’t take thousand years to fade away. Similarly, ‘fiat lux’ in school education or revolution were these social science textbooks. But that lux is in flux by virtue of our parliamentarians.

Since the new books of Social Sciences have been introduced they have booked a special place in the heart of teachers and students. With the appearance of cartoons by ‘Shankar’, Kutty, ‘R. K. Lakshman’ Amul and Cagle Cartoons, the Political Science book has scored high in intellectuals. NCERT invented cartoons like Munni and Unni. The questions are intellectually powerful enough to shake the mind and compelling to think out of the box.  

   

Academically by the advent of these books, Social Studies have become Social Sciences. The language used is gender neutral and words are less for congratulating textbook developing committee. Back in January 2007, the Political Science textbook for IX standard was referring the ‘President’ with pronoun ‘She’. That is where it makes an impression in front of feminist. Also these books fail to decide what is democracy and its definition? I think that is real strength of our republic. We don’t bound democracy by defining it or by limiting and restricting. The answer itself is a question that is what, we see is real philosophy.  To quote examples, the list will be so long why they are the ‘best’ textbooks of independent India. All over the world, people are downloading our textbook. The 12^th standard Political Science book titled ‘Contemporary World Politics’ is used to teach IR in Universities like Columbia and Harvard.

   

Many people have said for and against this decision outside the house with their intellect without even reading the book. It is very sad that appropriation and contextualization is nowhere. The message is always contextual whether it is ‘touch me not’ or ‘common man’.

Our Parliamentarian should be proud to have such high goal oriented textbooks instead of criticizing it. Honourable minister should have boasted by showing that cartoon as success of our democracy. As these books are building analytical thinking. The teachers note in textbook clearly states that the cartoons should be taught not enjoyed. Those were put up for understanding democratic polity. By removing this cartoon we are not retrieving respect to icon B. R. Ambedkar. If all these books are removed or thoroughly edited it will be insult to our ‘democracy’ and ‘constitution’.

On the Thorat Committee (yeh kya hai?), it is not a review committee; it is a censoring board on textbooks. Textbook writing is a skilled job. It ought to be done by some elite academicians, no doubt about it. The teacher in the classroom is facilitator whatever had been prescribed. People in and out of NCERT worked day and night for this and results were extraordinary. Today all that effort is in vain? Congratulations are due to Prof. Hari Vasudevan’s team. NCERT was able to justify by these textbooks as a council of educational research and training in toto along with National Curriculum Framework (NCF), which emphasized not on rote learning but through social intercourse of various kinds. These text books were not mere text it had innovative pedagogy of teaching and learning embedded.

As a citizen we need to save these books which teach citizenship and higher ethos of politics. The secondary school books have been inspirational for social scientist and prompted young people to opt for humanities in their higher secondary education for the cause of society. By this move the alumni readers are very unhappy as they give all credit to school books which gave them a broader, self reflexive insight. We need to save this masterpiece and feel short of adjectives for praising this academic research.