General Education Minister V. Sivankutty has reaffirmed the Kerala government’s resolve to teach school students portions including the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the Gujarat riots that were deleted by the Centre as part of implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Kerala is the only State to reinstate such portions deleted by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in textbooks distributed as part of the curriculum for Classes XI and XII, he added, while responding to questions in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday.
“Kerala has not fully accepted the NEP 2020. While Tamil Nadu has fully rejected the document, Karnataka has decided to only partially implement the proposed reforms. Having a prolific tradition of education, our State too can implement the reforms only in accordance with such history,” he said.
Mr. Sivankutty made the comments while replying to a question posed by Mons Joseph, MLA, who asked whether the State government intended to adhere to the NEP 2020 on integrating the vocational higher secondary education stream with secondary and higher secondary education in the State.
The government recently launched six additional textbooks – two each in History and Political Science, and one each in Economics and Sociology – published by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).
The additional History textbooks for Class XI and XII delve into Mughal history through the court chronicles; the partition and its horrors, especially that experienced by women and children; the ideology of communalism; biological evolution; and the emergence of Islam. The additional textbook in Political Science for Class XII include partition, Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the resultant clampdown on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
