The Times of India
Minority organization cries foul about 'Hindutva' beliefs in textbooks
By Arun Dev, TNN | Jan 11, 2013, 10.49 PM IST
BANGALORE: The Karnataka Regional Commission for Education on Friday accused the government of inserting Hindutva ideologies into the social science textbooks of state syllabus.
Sr M Genevieve, secretary of the commission, said the National Curriculum Framework of the National Council for Education Research and Training ( NCERT) states that it's important that all regions and social groups be able to relate to the textbooks. This is not the case in this state.
"These textbooks talk about over 50 temples in Karnataka. The contributions of other communities have been sidelined. The famous poem Punyakoti (Class VIII Hindi textbooks) was tweaked. It showed a tiger taking an oath that consumption of cow's meat is a bad thought, and henceforth, he won't eat it. What are we trying to teach the children," she asked.
She said that for the past eight months, the organization has been demanding change in the syllabus as per the National Curriculum Framework. "There have been multiple meetings with the state government officials, but there has been no response," she said.
The commission's demands include withdrawal of textbooks introduced during 2012, the social science textbook for Class V and Class VIII and Hindi book.
The commission also objected to the gender disparities in textbooks.
"We have many women who have achieved a lot in the field of art and culture but our textbooks have confined them to single lines while their male counterparts are glorified. In the Class V textbook, under the section of literature, of 26 people mentioned, only four are women. Even the pictures show the men doing prominent work and women doing jobs,'' said a panel member.
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