The New Education Policy (NEP) asks schools and colleges to offer wholistic education which not only teaches kids about the future but also help them grow culturally. NEP lays emphasis on Indian education system. In a move towards the direction, several state and central level boards have decided to make changes to their curriculum.
In most cases the Indianisation of education system has meant removing subjects which portray India in bad light or addition of historical events which have can imbibe feeling of patriotism. Many states have also include scriptures to their education system. Most common of them all is Hindu religious text Bhagwat Gita as mart of moral science curriculum.
NCERTs Revamped in line With NEP
Earlier, in February 2021, the former union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had claimed that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is preparing new textbooks. In his statement, the minister said that the new textbooks will be prepared after extensive research and this will also come under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Month after this, in September, 2021, the Ministry of Education announced that it will be developing new curriculums for schools, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), teacher, and adult education.
The ministry claimed that a 12-member committee has been formed which will be headed by K Kasturirangan to develop the new curriculum. The ministry added that the curriculums will be formed keeping in mind the recommendations of the NEP.
“As per the perspectives of the NEP 2020, the Committee will develop four National Curriculum Frameworks- i.e., the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, National Curriculum for Early Childhood Care and Education, National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education and National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education,” the Education Ministry said. This will be the fifth National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and will come after a gap of 16 years, ministry officials added.
‘Indian History Books Dwell in Defeat’
Stating that there is a need for these changes in our history books, Govind Prasad Sharma, chairman of the National Book Trust, told the media that there is a need to rewrite history in light of the ‘new facts’ coming up. Stating that Indian history books dwell too much in defeats. He added that our textbooks should focus more on the ‘fighting spirits’ of rulers such as Maharana Pratap who fought against the foreign invaders.
Haryana Board makes changes in history textbook
Recently, the Haryana School Education Board (BSEH) virtually released new history books for classes 6 to 10. Announcing theses major changes in the syllabus of history books from this new academic session, the state education minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar said that the new syllabus is in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. He added that the new books will include Indian civilization, history, culture, literature, patriots, freedom struggle, known and unknown heroes who took part in the freedom struggle, and major events of India after 1947.
CBSE Removes Verses by Faiz from 10th Political Science Book
Last month, in April, 2022, The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has removed several verses of Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem from the Political Science NCERT textbook of class 10. The changes were made in the ‘Religion, Communalism and Politics’ section of the book ‘Democratic Politics II’ with the release of CBSE’s 2022-23 academic curriculum this Thursday, reported a leading news daily.
The excluded verses are “We remain strangers even after so many meetings, bloodstains remain even after so many rains” and “Not enough to shed tears, to suffer anguish, not enough to nurse love in secret…Today, walk in the public square fettered in chains.”
Addition of Bhagwat Gita
Soon after Gujarat education minister Jitu Vaghani, announced that the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture will be a part of school syllabus for classes 6 to 12 from the academic year 2022-23 in Gujarat, several other states, especially BJP rules have also announced similar curriculum for schools.
Following this in April, Karnataka’s Education Minister BC Nagesh said that Bhagavad Gita will be taught in schools across the state from the upcoming academic session. “Moral education is the need of the hour and hence, stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata which help to inculcate moral qualities will be included in the syllabus,” Nagesh was quoted as saying to media.
This month, the Uttarakhand government announced that it will also include Bhagavad Gita, Vedas, and Upanishads in the school curriculum. Stating the implementation of religious texts in the syllabus for the upcoming academic year, Uttarakhand education minister Dhan Singh Rawat also mentioned that the students will be taught about the history and geography of the state.
The NEP asks schools to prepare curricula based on Indian history and traditions. Following suit, Uttarakhand is now considering the addition of Gita, Vedas, and Upanishads, in the school syllabus.
Meanwhile, the Indian History Congress (IHC) has objected to rewriting the history textbooks in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) school textbooks saying that it is not being done for ‘academic’ reasons, instead, the changes are being made for ‘political reasons’, as reported by NDTV.
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