The recent textbook revision row has created a ruckus in the State of Karnataka. The revision of sections relating to legendary thinkers, social reformers, freedom fighters, and writers — such as Basavanna, Kanakadasa, Narayana Guru, Tipu Sultan, Periyar, Kuvempu and Ambedkar — is not only hurting the sentiments of the people who revere these individuals but is also an attack on the constitutional values that we collectively prize. Additionally, the unjustifiable revisions have further derailed the learning of children who have already borne the brunt of deprivation of education, among the other devastating effects of the pandemic, for nearly two and a half years.
The ongoing discourse reveals that the process of textbook revision is not only the exclusion or addition of a few lessons in the texts of Language courses, but also a tweaking of Social Science textbooks of Classes 6 to 10. By design, it is a deliberate endeavour to propagate a particular ideology, contrary to the pre-existing and well-defined normative framework used for the determination of curriculum, school syllabus, textbooks, and their revisions, in accordance with core constitutional values.
This article aims to examine the validity of the current undertaking for textbook revision, and contrast it with the established, normative parameters and mandates of the state laid down for the process of revision.
