The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released its curriculum for the academic year 2022-23 for classes 10th and 12th. Among the changes made in the new curriculum, CBSE has removed the excerpts from two poems by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz from “Religion, Communalism, and Politics – Communalism, Secular State” section of the NCERT book, Indian Express reported on Saturday.
The curriculum document, which lists the Social Science course content for Class 10, states that the segment on religion, communalism, and politics will continue to be part of the course content “excluding images on pages 46, 48, 49.” The images refer to 2 posters illustrating Urdu poet Faiz’s poems and one political cartoon.
One of the posters illustrating Faiz’s poems is issued by NGO ANHAD, which has among its founders Delhi-riots accused Harsh Mander, and regular fake news peddler Shabnam Hashmi. The other one is issued by the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) which calls itself one of the largest health and development networks in the world.
The excerpt of the first poem reads, “We remain strangers even after so many meetings, bloodstains remain even after so many rains.” While the second one reads, “Not enough to shed tears, to suffer anguish, not enough to nurse love in secret… Today, walk in the public square fettered in chains.”
The cartoon that has been axed was a political cartoon published in the Times of India and was made by Ajith Ninan. The cartoon shows an empty chair adorned with religious symbols with the caption, “This chair is for the CM-designate to prove his secular credentials. There will be plenty of rocking!”
The textbook was developed by a committee chaired by the late Professor Hari Vasudevan of the University of Calcutta’s Department of History following the revision of the National Curriculum Framework in 2005.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Hum Dekhenge controversy during Anti-CAA protests
During the anti-CAA protests in India towards the end of 2019, Faiz’s hum dekhenge poem had created quite a controversy over its use in the protests. Many people protested over the line sab but uthwaye jayenge (all idols will be removed) for the anti-idolatory tone of the words.
Other changes in the textbooks
Apart from Faiz’s poems, CBSE has also removed chapters on “democracy and diversity”, “Popular struggles and movements” focusing on Nepal and Bolivia, and “challenges to democracy”.
A chapter on “Central Islamic Lands” has also been removed from the History course for Class 11. It dealt with the rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories.
