250 Academics, Historians Slam NCERT: ‘Textbook Changes Guided By Divisive & Partisan Agenda’

New Delhi: Slamming the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for making changes in its textbooks, about 250 academics and historians issued a statement on Friday alleging that the move has been “guided by a divisive and partisan agenda” and demanded “the deletions be immediately withdrawn.”

Among the signatories are eminent members of academic community and historians like Romila Thapar, Jayati Gosh, Mridula Mukherjee, Apoorvanada, Irfan Habib and Upinder Singh.

They said that the latest deletions from NCERT textbooks “expose the non-academic, partisan agenda of the regime in pushing through amendments to school textbooks.”

The NCERT has removed content about Mahatma Gandhi, his assassin, and the banning of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) following Gandhi’s assassination in the latest class XII political science and history textbook editions for the current academic year.

“We are appalled by the decision of the NCERT to remove chapters and statements from the history textbooks and demand that the deletions be withdrawn. The decision of the NCERT is guided by divisive motives. It is a decision which goes against the constitutional ethos and composite culture of the Indian subcontinent. As such, it must be rescinded at the earliest,” the statement said.

Pointing out that there has been no attempt to consult historians and school teachers who were members of the teams that had prepared the textbooks, the signatories – who included professors from Delhi University and its affiliated colleges, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Ambedkar University — said that the revision should have only been done “in sync with the consensus of the existing historical scholarship. However, the selective deletion in this round of textbook revision reflects the sway of divisive politics over pedagogical concerns.”

“The selective dropping of NCERT book chapters which do not fit into the larger ideological orientation of the present ruling dispensation exposes the non-academic, partisan agenda of the regime in pushing through amendments to school textbooks,” the statement further read.

Last year, NCERT had removed chapters on Mughal courts, 2002 Gujarat riots, the Cold war, references to Mughal emperors and Emergency, among other topics, to reduce students’ ‘burden’ amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

NCERT chairperson Dinesh Prasad Saklani, who could not be reached for comment today had said on Wednesday, “NCERT doesn’t take decisions on its own. These topics were rationalised last year on recommendations of the subject expert panel. One should not see that through the political prism.”