Amid controversy over NCERT's new class 12 history textbooks in which portions about Mughal courts have been removed in UP schools, Education Ministry sources on Tuesday said there are no new changes.
“This is old news, few chapters related to Mughal courts were removed last year in July from 12th study textbooks in a very scientific way as these chapters were overlapping in 6th and 7th study textbooks as well. As of now, nothing new has been implemented by NCERT. As far as UP board is concerned they might have made some changes but overall no new changes,” the Education Ministry sources asserted.
NCERT's stand
"It's a lie. (Chapters on) Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalisation process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere...Expert committees examined the books from std 6-12. They recommended that if this chapter is dropped, it won't affect the knowledge of the children and an unnecessary burden can be removed...The debate is unnecessary. Those who don't know, can check the textbooks..," Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director of NCERT said.
Changes were announced in early 2022
As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, dropped certain portions from the syllabus including lessons on Mughal courts from its class 12 textbooks.
Many of these changes were announced in early 2022 when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) rationalised its syllabi in April.
Besides schools under CBSE, some state boards also use NCERT textbooks.
Listing the changes, the NCERT, in a note, had said, "The content of the textbooks has been rationalised for various reasons, including overlapping with similar content in other subject areas in the same class, similar content included in the lower or higher classes on the same subject.
It also stated that difficulty level, content which is easily accessible to students without much intervention from teachers and can be learned by self-learning or peer-learning and content which is irrelevant in the present context have been removed.
In class 12 political science textbook, pages on the topic 'Gujarat Riots' have been excluded from the chapter titled 'Recent Developments in Indian Politics'.
The mention of the National Human Rights Commission report on the 2002 violence and the "raj dharma" remark by then Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee has been dropped from the textbook.
Also, chapters on Mughal courts in a history textbook, a poem on the Dalit movement and a chapter on the Cold War, are among the exclusions from the political science textbook.
UP adopt NCERT's revised textbooks
Uttar Pradesh government schools will adopt from this academic session the NCERT's new class 12 history textbooks in which portions about Mughal courts have been removed.
"We teach our students using NCERT books...whatever is there in the revised edition will be followed," Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said.
Additional Chief Secretary (basic and secondary education) Deepak Kumar confirmed the development.
"We follow NCERT books and whatever is available in the revised edition, we will follow it in state schools from 2023-24 session," Kumar told PTI.
(With PTI input)
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