Author: Lata Vaidyanathan, Principal,
Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 6, 2002
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=10766
The NCERT has introduced new textbooks
for Classes VI and IX. Was the exercise really required?
There was definitely a need to
update the facts. The sequential flow is much better in the new version
and so is the designing. Even in terms of picture quality and child friendliness,
these are definitely much better books.
These books don't talk of kuchcha
road or chulha, which don't have any significance for the digital generation.
The new version might have some regional bias, like information related
to Delhi is more important than the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. That
is okay.
Is it compulsory for CBSE schools
to follow NCERT textbooks?
Till Class VIII, we can use any
book so long as it is according to the NCERT syllabus. However, from Class
IX onwards, both the CBSE and ICSE prescribe the use of NCERT textbooks
and schools use them purely for convenience.
Do you see a political agenda?
Any historical writing is interpretative.
So, there are bound to be biases involved and historians are bound to have
differences about these. Even if there's a hidden agenda, this subject
(history) anyway provides for politicisation. Textbooks shouldn't be politicised
any further. Instead, treat the textbook as a tool, don't make it the master...
So long as these don't touch anyone's sensibility, I don't think we should
have a problem with them.
What is the significance of Vedic
education in urban schools like yours?
I remember singing Sanskrit vandana
in school. So term it Sanskritisation when the Government makes it compulsory.
Education out of its cultural context has no meaning... It's a more reactive
than a deliberative view. Vedic education is timeless and most modern.
In the chapter on religion, Hinduism
is treated with reverence while this isn't the case with other religions.
Hinduism is more than a religion,
it's a way of life, an attitude. Keeping in mind its vastness and the fact
that no single religious book has a comparable philosophy, I feel it is
justified that more space be given to it.
The chapter on Mauryan empire in
the book meant for Class VI reads more like a phone directory and lacks
the socio-economic details which the earlier version by Romila Thapar had.
While there can be a debate on how
much knowledge one can have, there can always be a debate on how much knowledge
can be imparted to a Class VI student. So long as it reduces the content
load on the child, I do not mind it at all.
(Interviewed by Tina Das)
