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In light of the upcoming Class X and XII board examinations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaged in an interaction with students, teachers and parents in the second edition of his ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’ in New Delhi on Tuesday, 30 January.
Textbooks remain the cornerstone of education for the average Indian school-goer and also the backbone of classroom-teaching.
Therefore, it is imperative to rethink the writing and revising of our textbooks – both at the national and the state level. In this context, let us look at the ‘revised’ history textbooks in Maharashtra, to understand the larger trends in Indian school textbooks.
In Maharashtra, the school history textbooks (which are conceived, designed and published by the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, Pune,) were revised to modify the content, which was said to produce ‘dutiful future citizens’ in the country.
Imparting values through education is desirable so long as it does not become a carrier of identity politics. Historians and scholars have warned against using textbooks and syllabi as vehicles of the government of the day to pursue identity politics, by chalking out (for the students) who are the heroes of their past and who are not.
The revised textbooks reveal narrow-mindedness and ideological-motivation which may teach ‘awareness, responsibility and patriotism’, at the risk of compromising historical inquiry and an objective understanding of the past.
In the books for Class VII, including the new one, terms such as ‘an ideal ruler’, ‘epoch-making personality’ describe the Maratha king Shivaji. A similar tone has been reserved for Marathas and Shivaji’s mother Jijabai by addressing them as ‘the protectors of the nation’ and ‘political experts’, respectively.
In India, it is commonly believed that the teaching and learning of history is a mechanical process of rote-learning facts. But in reality, historical pedagogy can be equally challenging and stimulating for the learner, provided the textbooks serve as a solid foundation for the same.
Another mistake is the view that Indian school students are required to learn Indian History only. The syllabus for Class X in the 2010 version included topics such as World War I, Russian Revolution and Emancipation of Asia and Africa which do not feature in the new edition. Similarly, in the new book for Class VIII, the chapters such as Age of Renaissance, Age of Revolutions have been clubbed into one – Europe and India, thus, further narrowing the already limited scope of understanding world history.
The new books of Class IX and X have been drastically revised to deal with modern history and contemporary events, which is a welcome change, but not without its limitations. The new Class IX textbook focuses on achievements of the country after 1960, while dedicating only one chapter to India’s internal disturbances, and the objective of the new Class X book is to learn about applied history and understand career avenues related to subjects such as art, films and sports.
What the creators of these textbooks need to address immediately is the absence of critical or contentious perspectives about the past, as revealed through the Maharashtra school text books, and to make sure these books are bereft of bias, and do not misrepresent, distort or exaggerate historical accounts.
(Sara Shadab Arab is a Master’s candidate in International History at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, with a previous experience of 9 years as a history educator in Mumbai. This is a personal blog and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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