Author: Our Staff Reporter
Publication: The Hindu
Date: November 1, 2002
Anomalies, objections and lapses
pointed out by a section of academicians and intellectuals in the Social
Science textbooks meant for Class VI and IX with revised syllabus have
been removed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training
and would be available in the market in next couple of days, the NCERT
Director, J.S. Rajput, said here today.
``But they have not been put in
the language they (those who had pointed towards the serious lapses) wanted,'
Dr. Rajput said at a joint press conference along with Virsa Singh of the
Gobind Sadan Institute for Advanced Studies in Comparative Religion.
Soon after the textbooks were made
public by the council last month, academicians pointed out a number of
serious lapses and errors. These included one like 'Madagascar was on Arabian
Sea', and there was no mention of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Conceding that there has been serious
errors and omissions in the textbooks, he said: "These have been removed.
There were a lot of printing errors too which have been taken care of now".
He said the new textbooks for Class X and Class XII would be ready in 2003.
`No privatisation
Dr. Rajput categorically denied
reports that there was a move to privatise NCERT, adding there was "no
such move at our level to privatise. If there is any, we at NCERT would
oppose it. I am confident that the Union Ministry would agree with our
view."
Referring to the Delhi Governments
decision not to introduce the new NCERT textbooks in the Capital, he hoped
that very soon State Governments would realise the importance of the books.
"It has been alleged that we are saffaronising education. This is not the
case. It is also not for the first time that any mistake has been pointed
out in NCERT books," he said.
In his address, Baba Virsa Singh
- a religious leader who believes in inter-faith dialogue - welcomed the
new textbooks and said the mistakes which did not portray a true picture
of the various religious leaders including that of Sikh Gurus have been
removed. "It is because of such teachings that there is animosity and mistrust
among people," he said.
