Our effort is in danger; remove our names from textbooks: scholars to NCERT
“We find it difficult to say that these are the books we developed because there have been several significant alterations to the original texts, which result in distinct volumes.”
33 academics who were a member of the Textbook Development Committee (TDC) have written to the council stating that their collaborative creative endeavour is in peril days after political scientists Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar requested that their names be removed from textbooks.
The academicians have also insisted that the textbooks not include their names.
A letter addressed to NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani has been signed by several people, including Kanti Prasad Bajpai, a former professor at JNU who is currently vice dean at the National University of Singapore, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a former vice chancellor at Ashoka University, Rajeev Bhargava, a former director of CSDS, Niraja Gopal Jayal, a former professor at JNU, Nivedita Men
“Since there are several substantive revisions of the original texts, making them thereby different books, we find it difficult to claim that these are the books we produced and to associate our names with them…. We are now given to believe that this creative collective effort is in jeopardy,” the letter read.
“The textbooks were the result of extensive deliberations and collaborations among political scientists from various perspectives and ideological backgrounds and originally intended to impart knowledge about India’s freedom struggle, the constitutional framework, the functioning of democracy and key aspects of Indian politics, while also integrating global developments and theoretical principles of political science,” it said.
In a letter to the NCERT last week, Yadav and Phalsikar had said a rationalisation exercise has “mutilated” the books beyond recognition and rendered those “academically dysfunctional”, and the textbooks that were a source of pride for them earlier have now become a source of embarrassment.
The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), however, had stated that the disassociation of anyone is not a possibility because school textbooks are created based on knowledge and comprehension of a particular subject and at no point is individual authorship claimed.
The Opposition accused the BJP-led Centre of “whitewashing with vengeance” after a number of issues and sections were removed from NCERT textbooks last month.
The main source of contention was the omission of some contentious deletions from the notification of some of the modifications made as part of the rationalisation effort. This sparked claims of a covert attempt to remove certain passages.
Although the deletions were based on professional advice, the NCERT declined to reverse them, describing the omissions as a potential error. Additionally, it was said that the textbooks will be updated in 2024, when the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) will take effect. Later on, it reversed course and stated that “minor changes need not be notified”.
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