Textbook errors

NCERT's edits will distort learning outcomes

The proposal by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to “rationalise” textbooks of Classes six to 12 by removing large and consequential chunks of Indian history is likely to seriously distort learning outcomes for a generation of schoolchildren. The NCERT has justified this heavy editing as a means of lightening the burden on children after two years of disruption in schooling owing to Covid-19. This is a weak argument on several counts. First, with many children attending regular online classes or taking private tuition, which followed the old school syllabi during these two years, it is unclear exactly what extra learning burden they have to bear, now that regular physical classes have begun. Second, the bulk of the reductions have been in history and social sciences, two subjects that have been the focus of the ruling party’s and its broader Sangh Parivar’s dissatisfaction for some decades over what it sees as a diminution of the importance of Hindu rulers by “leftist” academics.

It is no surprise, then, that sections on the Delhi Sultanate for Class 7 have been reduced significantly. For the same class, a two-page table detailing the achievements of the Great Mughals —the first six — has been eliminated as has an entire section on the policies of Akbar, the third and the most consequential Mughal ruler, and the creation of post-Mughal states. Such wholesale elimination has also been accompanied by egregious edits, such as describing Mahmud of Ghazni’s raids as having a religious motive, although the mention of his sacking of the Somnath temple has been removed. It is worth noting that several of these changes had been proposed earlier, have taken place surreptitiously in some states, and had no link with Covid-19. In fact, as early as mid-2021, the Indian History Congress had registered its protest in a letter to the government. The erasures to the science syllabus for Classes seven and eight are also disturbing, since they delete chapters concerning climate change and pollution, topics that are critical for young people. For the Class 11 and 12 textbooks, the Gujarat riots, the Cold War, and the industrial revolution have been dropped.

These changes are consequential principally because the NCERT’s syllabus and textbooks are the most widely used. Some 19 school systems in 14 states have adopted its textbooks. After a brief controversy between 2018 and 2020, it was clarified that the use of NCERT textbooks in schools under the aegis of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was not mandatory. Nevertheless, because the organisation works on a no-profit, no-loss basis, NCERT textbooks are far cheaper than most of its equivalents in the market and, therefore, tend to be used more extensively than most others. The obvious answer to this monopoly, of course, is for schools to focus on using other, better-quality textbooks and getting them produced at lower cost as some states do. But political pressure to adopt textbooks that follow a certain ideological line will remain strong. The decision by some CBSE-affiliated schools in Haryana to ignore the state’s diktat to use only NCERT textbooks is a rare and courageous move. But it does point to the importance of school administrations to take the lead in preventing the government from dictating how they teach.