Include Ramayana, Mahabharata In School Textbooks, Recommends NCERT Panel

OB Bureau

November 22, 2023 11:22 am

Pic courtesy Naidunia

New Delhi: Ramayana and Mahabharata could be a part of textbooks from the next session. A high-level committee constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to revise the school curriculum for social sciences, has recommended the inclusion of the epics in textbooks. It also said that the Preamble of the Constitution should be written on classroom walls, said the committee’s chairperson CI Issac on Tuesday.

The seven-member committee, which was constituted last year, has made several recommendations for its final position paper on social sciences, which is a key prescriptive document for laying down the foundation for the development of new NCERT textbooks.

The 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) notified in July to finalise the curriculum, textbooks, and learning material for these classes may now take into consideration the recommendation.

The NSTC has also recently formed a Curricular Area Group (CAG) for Social Science to develop Syllabi and Teaching-Learning material for the subject.

Emphasising that it is significant to teach Ramayana and Mahabharata to students in Classes VII to XII, Issac said, “The committee has insisted on teaching epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata in the social science syllabus to students. We think that students in their teenage years build their self-esteem, patriotism and pride for their nation. Every year thousands of students leave the country and seek citizenship in other countries because of the lack of patriotism among them. Therefore, it is important for them to understand their roots and develop love for their country and their culture,” Hindustan Times reported.

“Although some education boards presently teach Ramayana to students, they teach it as a myth. What is a myth? There is no purpose of the education system if the students are not taught these epics, and it will not be nation serving,” he added.

Issac had earlier said that the panel had also recommended replacing the name ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks, introducing ‘classical History’ instead of ancient History in the curriculum of textbooks for classes 3 to 12. “The recommendation to include Ramayana and Mahabharata in the syllabus was also made earlier. The committee has not made any fresh recommendations,” he was quoted a saying.

On why the Preamble of the Constitution should be written on the walls of the classrooms, Issac said, “Our Preamble is noble. It gives importance to social values including democracy and secularism. Therefore, we have recommended writing it on the walls of the classrooms so that everyone can understand and learn from it,” Issac added.

NCERT is revising the school curriculum in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The new NCERT textbooks are likely to be ready by the next academic session.