It is important to ensure that our students get factual and scientific education, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was speaking after the release of additional higher secondary textbooks containing content removed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) at the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, here on Wednesday.
Six additional textbooks – two each in History and Political Science and one each in Economics and Sociology – have been brought out by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).
The Chief Minister said children could be said to get good education only if it was factual and scientific. The release of the additional textbooks was an initiative towards that goal.
The NCERT had made significant changes to its textbooks, even removing portions in its entirety, in the name of rationalisation. The State government took a serious view of this for it believed that the content removed was not dispensable. The dropped portions had therefore been included in the additional textbooks by the State.
Mr. Vijayan said 44 textbooks in 12 subjects for Classes 11 and 12 in the State were those published by the NCERT. Students in these classes would study lessons brought out by the NCERT with a ‘special interest.’ These would entirely change students’ historical and social perspective, and create a generation without humaneness and focussed on the idea of divisiveness.
The NCERT’s justification for the changes in textbooks was to reduce their burden and make them logical. Apparently, these suggestions had been put forth by experts, but who these people were had not been revealed so far, the Chief Minister said.
An education policy that provided students knowledge and abilities according to the changing times, upheld Constitutional values, socialist ideals, gender justice, and scientific consciousness was needed. Instead, portions that upheld these values had been axed. One of these related to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Removing such information from textbooks had specific political interests, whitewashing people and organisations involved in the assassination. There was no doubt that those whitewashing such organisations would try to portray Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse as a great man, Mr. Vijayan said.
The Chief Minister called for seeing through attempts to create a society that was based on hatred. Recent violence in various parts of the country highlighted the importance of including human and Constitutional values in children’s education.
Alienation and hatred were being created by teaching children that our country was without plurality and diversity. Such changes were being seen in textbooks at the national level. Removal of history of Mughal kings from textbooks was an instance. There was need to be vigilant against such education reforms. If knowledge was to be used for social progress, history, society, and science should be understood factually. These additional textbooks will help do that, Mr. Vijayan said.
Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty presided over the function. General Education principal secretary Rani George, director of general education Shanavas S., and SCERT director Jayaprakash R.K. spoke.
