03-24-2005, 04:25 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NCERT peddles old history in old bottles
Sonia Sarkar/ New Delhi
After trashing the books published during the NDA regime and declaring that it would introduce new textbooks in the academic session 2005-06, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has had to climb down considerably and fall back on pre-2002 textbooks, which NCERT Director Prof Krishna Kumar had once termed "frustrating".  Â
Soon after the UPA Government came to power, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh had said that a new set of textbooks would be printed and introduced in the schools from the academic year 2005-06. But the NCERT has failed to meet the deadline and the new books are yet to be written.
Under the circumstances, the NCERT director has now decided to bring back the pre-2002 texts, which he himself had once run down as "frustrating experience for students".
The Council now states that new textbooks would only be introduced after the National Steering Committee submits its report. The report will be tabled in the Central Advisory Board of Education, which will later pass on the approved report back to the NCERT. The NCERT will then form a panel of authors to write a new set of history texts. This whole process would need at least another year, something, which the minister obviously did not take into account while making his tall claims in 2004.
A senior NCERT official said: "The Council did not have much time in hand last year to select a new panel of authors and then publish a new set of history textbooks as the decision to introduce new textbooks was made in late July 2004. Meanwhile, the National Steering Committee was set up in November 2004, so the Council decided to introduce the new set of textbooks following the recommendations of the steering committee."
Talking to The Pioneer, Savita Sinha, Head, Department of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities said: "The pre-2002 history textbooks are to be introduced as we are short of time to select authors to write a new book for the academic year-2005."
Incidentally, Prof Yashpal who had coined the word "Talibanisa-tion" while campaigning against texts published by the NCERT during the regime of JS Rajput heads the Steering committee. In its enthusiasm to undo the work of the earlier regime, NCERT sources said, the panel of authors to be selected is likely to be the Left-wingers. "It's the Ministers way of keeping his benefactors in the Left parties in good humour," said sources.
Sources said that the move to introduce books of the Left-wing historians of the pre-2002 era, which has once been run down by the Yashpal-Kumar duo, has been initiated at the behest of the HRD Ministry to appease the Left apparatchiks. "While the Geography and Civics portions from the social sciences textbook of Rajput regime would continue to be taught, the 40-odd pages of history would be replaced by a full textbook turning students into beasts of burden," said an NCERT official.
In his report titled 'Learning Without Burden', published in 1993, Kumar and Yashpal had said, "The aim of teaching history is defeated because children are not enabled to relate to their own heritage. Traditionally, it requires children to form an overall picture of the 'whole' of India's known history, from ancient to modern times, during the three years from Classes VI to VIII."
They had also criticised the style of writing saying, "The synoptic style forces the child into 'accepting' whatever is narrated. The sheer volume of text (which is supposed to cover all of India's history in three years) forces the child (and the teacher) to 'take in' as much text as possible without wasting time in studying or constructing an argument."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sonia Sarkar/ New Delhi
After trashing the books published during the NDA regime and declaring that it would introduce new textbooks in the academic session 2005-06, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has had to climb down considerably and fall back on pre-2002 textbooks, which NCERT Director Prof Krishna Kumar had once termed "frustrating".  Â
Soon after the UPA Government came to power, Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh had said that a new set of textbooks would be printed and introduced in the schools from the academic year 2005-06. But the NCERT has failed to meet the deadline and the new books are yet to be written.
Under the circumstances, the NCERT director has now decided to bring back the pre-2002 texts, which he himself had once run down as "frustrating experience for students".
The Council now states that new textbooks would only be introduced after the National Steering Committee submits its report. The report will be tabled in the Central Advisory Board of Education, which will later pass on the approved report back to the NCERT. The NCERT will then form a panel of authors to write a new set of history texts. This whole process would need at least another year, something, which the minister obviously did not take into account while making his tall claims in 2004.
A senior NCERT official said: "The Council did not have much time in hand last year to select a new panel of authors and then publish a new set of history textbooks as the decision to introduce new textbooks was made in late July 2004. Meanwhile, the National Steering Committee was set up in November 2004, so the Council decided to introduce the new set of textbooks following the recommendations of the steering committee."
Talking to The Pioneer, Savita Sinha, Head, Department of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities said: "The pre-2002 history textbooks are to be introduced as we are short of time to select authors to write a new book for the academic year-2005."
Incidentally, Prof Yashpal who had coined the word "Talibanisa-tion" while campaigning against texts published by the NCERT during the regime of JS Rajput heads the Steering committee. In its enthusiasm to undo the work of the earlier regime, NCERT sources said, the panel of authors to be selected is likely to be the Left-wingers. "It's the Ministers way of keeping his benefactors in the Left parties in good humour," said sources.
Sources said that the move to introduce books of the Left-wing historians of the pre-2002 era, which has once been run down by the Yashpal-Kumar duo, has been initiated at the behest of the HRD Ministry to appease the Left apparatchiks. "While the Geography and Civics portions from the social sciences textbook of Rajput regime would continue to be taught, the 40-odd pages of history would be replaced by a full textbook turning students into beasts of burden," said an NCERT official.
In his report titled 'Learning Without Burden', published in 1993, Kumar and Yashpal had said, "The aim of teaching history is defeated because children are not enabled to relate to their own heritage. Traditionally, it requires children to form an overall picture of the 'whole' of India's known history, from ancient to modern times, during the three years from Classes VI to VIII."
They had also criticised the style of writing saying, "The synoptic style forces the child into 'accepting' whatever is narrated. The sheer volume of text (which is supposed to cover all of India's history in three years) forces the child (and the teacher) to 'take in' as much text as possible without wasting time in studying or constructing an argument."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->