The error in the Social Work textbook for Plus One higher secondary students will be corrected, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
The Minister, in a statement here on Friday, said the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been entrusted with looking into the matter and making necessary corrections.
The Plus One Social Work textbook for Humanities students had been prepared by the SCERT during the 2014-16 period. The chapter titled ‘Contemporary Social Concerns’ has a sub-heading ‘Contemporary Social Issues’ that includes a portion on communalism. After dwelling on causes and consequences of communalism, it goes on to mention nine measures to eradicate communalism. One of the measures ‘implement economic reservation instead of communal reservation’ has now created a controversy.
The Minister said the textbook was being taught in State schools since the time it was brought out, but the error was noticed only now. Directions have been issued immediately to make corrections.
Only English medium textbooks had been used for higher secondary classes. It was to facilitate learning in mother tongue that the textbook, prepared originally in English, was translated to Malayalam without any changes. This textbook and other textbooks translated into Malayalam were not printed; these are available on the SCERT website for download. Reports that the textbook was prepared in 2019 were inaccurate, the Minister said.
Mr. Sivankutty pointed out that new textbooks for all classes, including those for the higher secondary section, were being brought out as part of curriculum revision.
