73 academics, including vice-chancellors of major institutions, released a statement opposing the controversy over the substantial alteration of the original curriculum of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks. It was published late on Thursday night and alleged that the council was made a target of misleading information.
They additionally stated that efforts were being made to obstruct the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s implementation in order to further political objectives. “Through misinformation, rumours, and false allegations, they want to derail the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) and disrupt the updation of NCERT textbooks.”
They mentioned that the school curriculum in India has not been revised for nearly two decades. “The last update of textbooks was undertaken in 2006. The current NCERT team has been making consistent efforts for reducing the burden on students and improving learning outcomes by rationalising the syllabus and making the content relevant according to current needs.”
“The scholars who have suggested the changes in the textbook have not suggested any epistemic rupture in the existing domain of knowledge but just rationalised the course content as per contemporary knowledge need. As regards the decision of who decides what is unacceptable and what is desirable it is argued that every new generation has the right to make additions or deletions to the existing knowledge base,” the letter argued.
It was signed by Professor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Professor Sanjay Srivastava, Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Professor Shambhu Nath Singh Vice Chancellor of Tezpur Central University, Dr Sushma Yadav, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Central University of Haryana and Professor Dhananjay Singh, Member Secretary, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) among others.
Academicians noted that this time author selection procedure, which took place throughout the exercise in rationalisation, was far more open and morally sound than it had been in the past. “The process of selection of the scholars for this task was thoroughly liberal, democratic and humanistic.”
“Their demand that students continue to study from 17-year-old textbooks rather than updated textbooks in sync with contemporary developments and pedagogical advancement reveals intellectual arrogance. In their quest to further their political agenda, they are ready to endanger the future of crores of children across the country. While students are eagerly awaiting updated textbooks, these academicians are continuing to create hurdles and derail the entire process,” they charged.
The joint statement highlighted, “In the past three months, there have been deliberate attempts to malign the NCERT, a leading public institution, and disrupt the much-needed process for curriculum updation.”
It retaliated against academics who had withdrawn their names from consideration as NCERT advisors. It observed that the “name-withdrawal spectacle” was just intended to “capture media attention” and they “seem to have forgotten that textbooks are an outcome of collective intellectual engagement and rigorous efforts.”
They also extended an invitation to thinkers, academics, and concerned people to sign their petition in order to expose self-serving academics who are trying to sabotage the implementation of NEP 2020 and the much-required and long-overdue upgradation of school curricula.
“NCERT has been revising textbooks from time to time in the past too. NCERT is fully justified in carrying out the rationalisation of its textbook contents. NCERT has repeatedly stated that the revision of textbooks originates from various stakeholders’ feedback and suggestions,” proclaimed University Grants Commission (UGC) chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar while endorsing the open letter.
He emphasised, “NCERT has also confirmed that it is developing a new set of textbooks based on the recently launched National Curriculum Framework for School Education and that current textbooks in which the contents have been rationalised to reduce the academic load are only a temporary phase. Given this, there is no merit in the hue and the cry of these ‘academicians.’ The objective behind their grumbling seems to be other than academic reasons.”
The statement came days after 33 academicians who served on the textbook development committee for the currently used, 2006–2007 National Curriculum Framework (NCF)–based textbooks wrote a letter to the council contending that their creative collective effort had been jeopardised by the recent syllabus rationalisation exercise. They also asked for the removal of their names from the current textbooks. Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, two former NCERT consultants, then distanced themselves from the rationalised political science textbooks.
