The NCERT books should portray lesser-known freedom fighters in school textbooks and must be free of biases, suggested the 32nd Parliamentary Committee in a meeting held on Tuesday. It also added that the NCERT must relook at the guidelines for writing history textbooks and give equal weightage to all the periods and events of the past.
The committee further recommended incorporating the history of the Vedas in the school curriculum as well as Sikh and Maratha history. It said NCERT and the SCERTs must “incorporate the ancient wisdom, knowledge, and teachings about life and society from Vedas and other great Indian texts/ books in the school curriculum”.
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“Our history textbooks should be continually updated, and account for post-1947 history as well. In addition, an option of conducting a review of National Curricular Framework at regular intervals should be kept,” the committee headed by BJP MP Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe said in its ‘Reforms in Content and Design of School Text Books’ report.
“Un-historical facts and distortions” about India’s national heroes from textbooks must be removed, it added. It also asked NCERT to include “educational methodologies adopted in the ancient Universities like Nalanda, Vikramshila, and Takshila” so that it serves as a model for teachers.
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“There is a need for discussing and reviewing, with leading historians, the manner in which Indian freedom fighters, from various regions/parts of the country and their contributions get place in History textbooks. This will result in a more balanced and judicious perception of the Indian freedom struggle,” the report read.
The report further asked to include some of the great Indian empires like “Vikramaditya, Cholas, Chalukyas, Vijaynagar, Gondwana or that of Travancore and Ahoms of North-Eastern region, whose contributions in the expansion of India’s standing on the world stage cannot be ignored.”
The role of women achievers must be highlighted, it said. Leading women figures such as Mahasweta Devi, Kalpana Chawla, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Kittur Chennamma, M S Subbulakshmi, and Savitribai Phule, among others must be included.
The panel also recommended the Ministry of Education to look at the possibility of developing a “class-wise common syllabus for various subjects” that can be implemented by CBSE, CICSE as well as state boards. This will ensure “uniformity in educational standards of school students across the country,” it said.
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The Indian History Congress (IHC) opposing the recommendation made by the committee said, “While a review process is always necessary, this should be done involving recognized scholars from all over the country and with adequate attention to the academic content, derived from a research-based understanding of different historical periods.”
The Education Ministry had earlier formed a panel headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturiranga to update the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and make relevant changes in the NCERT curriculum. In this regard, the council said it will constitute a panel to address the issues and recommendations made by the Parliamentary panel “with regard to un-historical facts and distortions about our national heroes as well as events if any raised by different stakeholders.”
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