Kerala Education Minister Writes to PM Modi, Dharmendra Pradhan to Cancel Changes in NCERT Books

Kerala education minister V Sivankutty has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to cancel the changes made in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks. Sivankutty wrote to PM Modi and Pradhan after the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Kerala sought the government’s agreement to release supplementary textbooks on topics that were omitted in Class 11 and 12 prepared by the NCERT.

Expressing concern over the deletion of important chapters, the minister said that the changes like the omission of evolution theory, appeared to be not on account of academic reasons. Sivankutty asserted that removing portions relating to peace, fundamental rights and development in the NCERT textbooks is a total “injustice” to children. By doing so, we will “rob them of the opportunity to become good citizens”.

“The rationalisation is justified in the name of the unique situation caused by the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Covid-19. However, removing evolution from the textbooks in Classes 9 and 10, and removing the important concepts from science, history, political science, and economics textbooks in Classes 11 and 12 does not seem to be an academic decision,” Sivankutty said.

The education minister stated that Kerala will come up with ways on teaching the deleted portions only after a discussion with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Meanwhile, Jayaprakash RK, SCERT director said that they will be launching the draft copy of the State Curriculum Framework (SCF) by May 15. Following this, the state officials will plan to commence the process of preparing new textbooks. He also added that the new curriculum will replace the current syllabus that is being followed since 2009.

According to media reports, the SCERT has asked schools across the state to teach the deleted topics in NCERT books in Class 11 and 12. Earlier this week, the State Council conducted a meeting to discuss the addition of portions that were excluded by NCERT. They came up with the conclusion to publish supplementary textbooks for students. The topics that have been excluded by NCERT from the History and Political Science textbooks are the history of the Mughal Empire, the Gujarat riots, and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

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