Textbook case of sparking controversy

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks have courted controversy yet again, with the incumbent government being accused of rewriting history with selective omissions and assertions.It all began on December 28, 2021, when the NCERT announced the formation of expert committees to guide its textbook development process. The rationale that was given was that the exercise would reduce the burden on school students who were impacted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Over a period of three years, new textbooks started hitting the market with rationalised content.The most sweeping changes were the removal of references to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, the demolition of Babri Masjid and the 2002 Gujarat riots. Sentences on Manipur’s accession to India in 1949 were rephrased. Chapters on protests and social movements, including those spearheaded by the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Dalit Panthers and Bharatiya Kisan Union, were removed.More recently, a furore erupted over the portrayal of Mughals and the omission of historical characters, including Tipu Sultan, Raziya Sultan and Noor Jahan, from the Class 8 Social Science textbook which was released last month. Part 1 of the textbook, titled ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond’, became a subject of intense debate after questions were raised over factual inaccuracies and omission of chapters.Earlier, students learnt about Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals in Class 7. The new textbook for Class 7 concludes before the 12th century. The portion dealing with the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals is now in Part 1 of the Class 8 Social Science textbook.The Class 8 Social Science book combines History, Geography, Civics and Economics into one.It also describes Akbar as a blend of “tolerance and cruelty” and Aurangzeb as someone who destroyed temples and gurdwaras. Likewise, the NCERT book describes the first Mughal emperor Babur as a “brutal and ruthless conqueror, slaughtering entire populations of cities, enslaving women and children, and taking pride in erecting towers of skulls made from the slaughtered people of plundered cities”.The earlier Class 7 book only described the emperor as having been forced to leave his ancestral throne, seizing Kabul, and then Delhi and Agra.Referring to jiziya, a tax that some sultans imposed on non-Muslims, the Class 8 book states that the discriminatory tax was a source of economic burden and public humiliation, and formed a financial and social incentive for subjects to convert to Islam. In the old textbook, jiziya was described as tax paid by non-Muslims initially along with land tax.Sharp criticism also came from unexpected quarters, when the erstwhile royal family of Jaisalmer objected to the map in the textbook that depicted Jaisalmer as part of the Maratha empire.Chaitanya Raj Singh, a descendant of Jaisalmer’s erstwhile royal family, urged the Education Ministry to look into the issue after objecting to the map which he termed “an attempt to tarnish the sacrifices, sovereignty, and valourous saga of our ancestors”.“The map shown in the NCERT Social Science textbook depicts Jaisalmer as part of the then Maratha empire, which is historically misleading, factually baseless, and deeply objectionable. Such unverified and historically unsubstantiated information not only raises questions about the credibility of institutions like NCERT, but also hurts our glorious history and public sentiments. This issue is not merely a textbook error, but appears to be an attempt to tarnish the sacrifices, sovereignty, and valourous saga of our ancestors,” Singh wrote.Prof Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, a Mughal historian who teaches at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), says the attempt to rewrite history is basically “replacing history with myths”.“There is nothing wrong in rewriting history, but here there are attempts to create and build whatever one can do with the past. Even the special module on Partition is wishful thinking. Who has stopped anyone from giving an interpretation? Even the British did not do to history what is happening now. The attempts are to erase whatever has happened in the last 70-80 years,” Rezavi says.He disagrees with the assertions that post-Independence school history textbooks were dominated by “left historians”.Previously, India’s school curriculum saw four revisions — in 1975, 1988, 2002 and 2005.In 2002, the then Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi was accused of “saffronisation” of education. In the books, the medieval period was described as a gloomy era. The government at that time said history had been written from the “Marxist version” and demanded its revision.In 2004, soon after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government came to power, steps were taken to undo the changes brought in by the BJP government.Delhi-based historian Ruchika Sharma says the new book has misrepresented Mughals. “One is the misrepresentation of jiziya. The book states that the tax was imposed on non-Hindus as a tool for conversion, which is absolutely incorrect. There is no historical evidence to the effect. Another inaccuracy is that Mughal emperor Akbar, who banned the tax during his reign, is regarded by the NCERT textbook as having done so in his later years, which is incorrect. Akbar was kept under the regency of his guardian Bairam Khan and truly assumed the throne only in 1560. He abolished the jiziya in 1563-64, which was very quick.”Sharma points out that when it comes to temple destruction in Indian history, the Class 8 textbook only discusses it in the context of the Sultanate-Mughal period, even when numerous instances of temple destruction can be found in the preceding periods as well.“The destruction of temples in Kashmir by 11th century ruler Harsha was recorded in the Sanskrit history of Kashmir, Kalhana’s ‘Rajatarangini’, or the destruction of multiple Jain shrines by followers of Virashaivism in 12th-13th century Karnataka, or the burning and looting of multiple Buddhist viharas by rulers such as Kshemagupta, Mihirakula and Pushyamitra Shunga are not found in NCERT’s textbooks,” she says.However, head of NCERT’s Social Science textbook team Michel Danino says the Class 8 book has included texts of Rana Durgavati, Tarabai, Ahilyabai, Rani Abbaka, Rani Lakshmibai and Begum Hazrat Mahal.Addressing the criticism in a detailed note on social media, Danino said over the last two years, numerous public representatives and private individuals have made representations to the Ministry of Education or NCERT, asking for a particular past figure, group, clan or event to be included in the new textbooks.“Were such requests (many of them possibly valid in theory) to be entertained, the textbooks would have to be twice as thick as they now are. No doubt, the new textbooks claim no perfection. Hoping to embody a new paradigm, they were prepared in a relatively short time. They can be refined and further improved from year to year. The NCERT textbooks are designed at the national level; however inclusive they may try to be, they cannot possibly reflect India’s diversity. SCERTs (State Councils of Educational Research and Training), on the other hand, have some latitude to create more regionalised content, adapting the national textbook to their specific context and requirement,” he said.After objections were raised over the revised content, the NCERT constituted a committee to “examine the feedback” it received on the textbook’s content.Recently, NCERT also faced backlash from political parties in Kerala and Tamil Nadu for using Hindi names for English textbooks. The Class 6 English textbook, ‘Honeysuckle’, was renamed ‘Poorvi’ and the Class 3 textbook is titled ‘Santoor’.Moreover, there were deletions in the Class 10 and 12 revised syllabus of English textbooks.Reacting to the changes, Rajan Sharma, Senior Master Trainer and Educator, Birla School, Pilani says, “As an educator and teacher trainer, I see the rationalisation of the NCERT syllabus in English as a joy that is both sweet and bitter. On the brighter side, a lighter syllabus reduces pressure and gives students more room to polish indispensable skills like communication, comprehension and creative writing. Yet, I feel the removal of too many literary pieces in senior classes takes away the soul of the subject. Literature is not just text — it is imagination, expression, empathy, and culture woven into words.”Sharma feels that rationalisation should simplify and not dilute. “If we cut too much, English risks becoming mechanical, dull and dreary. Rationalisation should simplify, not dilute. A balanced approach can truly raise both the heart and mind of the learners,” he says.Part 2 of the Class 8 Social Science textbook, which will be released in a couple of months, will deal with India’s freedom movement from 1857-1947. Expectations of a smooth changeover are dim.

Textbook case of sparking controversy

Aksheev Thakur

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