Textbooks must not become ‘ideological battlefield’: Sisodia
Successive govts have used education as an ideological battlefield, which is used to force certain narratives on children. Education must not be a platform for any political pointscoring.
Education minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday that textbooks must not be converted into an “ideological battleground” between the Left and the Right. He noted that textbooks had often been changed with a change in governments.
Sisodia made these observations on Tuesday after attending a crucial meeting of the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) chaired by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar.
Content review of textbooks, implementation of learning outcomes, adequate supply of textbooks and recruitment of nonacademic staff were among the items on agenda of the 54th General Council meeting of NCERT.
The meeting was attended by state education ministers and officials. “Successive governments have used education as an ideological battlefield, which is used to force certain narratives on children. Education must not be a platform for any political point-scoring. Textbooks must not be used as an ideological battleground between the Left and the Right. They must be designed to suit the needs of the children,” Sisodia said.
In his letter to Javadekar, Sisodia said it was not clear at times if the textbook was for the children or teachers. “I believe that we need to rethink the purpose of our textbooks,” he said.
The NCERT had last month invited suggestions and feedback from teachers of states and union territories regarding any factual errors in textbooks and required changes in content/ concept presentation.
An official said there was a discussion on revision or changes in curriculum and the suggestions given by the states were taken into account.
A number of suggestions were given by the education ministers, the official said. “The most significant was with regard to preschool. A consensus emerged that Anganwadi should be brought over to primary schools. This is already being done in Rajasthan and Sikkim,” he said.