There is no need to teach about riots and demolitions in schools; no attempt to saffronize textbooks: NCERT chief, ET Education

New Delhi, Rejecting accusations of saffronization of school curriculum, NCERT director said references to Gujarat riots and Babri mosque demolition have been modified in school textbooks as teaching on riots “may make citizens aggressive and depressed.” On Saturday, while talking to PTI editors at the agency’s headquarters, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani said that revisions in textbooks are part of the annual revision and should not be the subject of hue and cry. When asked about references to Gujarat riots or Babri Masjid demolition in NCERT textbooks, Saklani replied, “Why should we teach about riots in school textbooks? We want to create positive citizens, not aggressive and depressed people.”

“Should we teach our students in such a way that they become offensive, cause hatred in society or become victims of hate? Is this the purpose of education? Should we teach such young children about riots… when they grow up, they may learn about riots but why school textbooks. Let them understand what happened and why, when they grow up, screaming and crying about changes is irrelevant,” he said.

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Saklani’s comments come at a time when new textbooks with several deletions and changes are hitting the market. The revised textbook of political science for class 12 does not mention the Babri Masjid but calls it a “three-domed structure”. The Ayodhya section has been shortened from four to two pages and details from the earlier version have been removed.

Instead, it focuses on the Supreme Court ruling, which paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple on the site where the disputed structure once stood before it was demolished by Hindu activists in December 1992. The Supreme Court ruling has been widely accepted in the country. The Prime Minister consecrated the Ram idol in the temple on January 22 this year.

“We want to create positive citizens and that is the goal of our textbooks. We can’t have everything in them. The goal of our education is not to create aggressive citizens… depressed citizens. Hate and violence are not the subject of teaching, they should not be the subject of our textbooks,” Saklani added.

He suggested that there is not the same hue and cry over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that is not in the textbooks.

Recent deletions in textbooks include: BJP’s ‘rath yatra’ from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya; the role of kar sevaks; communal violence after the destruction of the Babri mosque; Presidential rule in BJP-ruled states; and the BJP’s expression of “regret over the events in Ayodhya.”

“If the Supreme Court gave a verdict in favor of Ram temple, Babri masjid or Ram janmabhoomi, then shouldn’t it be included in our textbooks, what’s the problem? We have included new updates. If we have built a new Parliament, if our students do not know about it, it is our responsibility to take into account ancient and recent developments,” he said.

Asked about allegations of saffronization of curriculum and, as a result, textbooks, Saklani replied: “If something has become irrelevant… it will have to be changed. Why shouldn’t this be changed. I don’t see any saffronization here. We teach history so that students know the facts, not make it a battlefield.”

“If we talk about the Indian Knowledge System, how can it be saffronization? If we talk about the iron pillar at Mehrauli and say that the Indians were far ahead of any metallurgical scientists, are we talking wrong? How can this be saffronization?”

Saklani (61), who was head of the department of ancient history at HNB Garhwal University before taking over as NCERT director in 2022, has faced criticism over changes in textbooks, especially on historical facts.

“What’s wrong with changing textbooks? Updating textbooks is a global practice and is in the interest of education. The revision of textbooks is an annual undertaking. What will change is decided by subject experts and pedagogy. I do not dictate or interfere in this process…there is no imposition from above.

“There is no attempt to saffronize the curriculum, everything is based on facts and evidence,” he said.

NCERT is reviewing the syllabus of school textbooks as per the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

From the claim that recent studies of ancient DNA obtained from archaeological sources at Rakhigarhi, a site in the Indus Valley in Haryana, rule out Aryan immigration to calls for more research into whether the Harappans and the Vedic people were the same, several key topics: have been omitted or corrected in textbooks.

A two-page table detailing the achievements of Mughal emperors such as Humayun, Shah Jahan, Akbar, Jahangir and Aurangzeb was also removed.

This is the fourth edition of the NCERT textbook review and update since 2014.

Referring to the changes in the Ayodhya section, NCERT had said in April, “The content is being updated in line with the latest political developments. The text on the Ayodhya issue has been thoroughly revised in view of the latest developments brought by the Supreme Constitutional Court judgment and its wide welcome.”

Saklani said some changes occurred because the topics were irrelevant, some were to update new information, and several topics were removed early to minimize the burden on students caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce duplication of content.

The new Year 11 political science textbook now says that political parties “give priority to the interests of a minority group” with an eye to “vote bank politics”, which leads to “minority appeasement”.

This marks a complete departure from what was taught until the 2023-2024 academic session – that if students “think hard” they will discover that there is “little evidence” to suggest that vote bank policies favor minorities in the country.

Removing references to the demolition of Babri Masjid, killings of Muslims during Gujarat and Hindutva riots and correcting references to Manipur’s merger with India are among the changes introduced in textbooks this year.

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