History, textbook revisions
As someone who wrote the Central Board of Secondary Education Class XII Board examinations, with history and political science as my subjects, the deletion of select topics and chapters by the National Council of Educational Research and Training in the guise of a “rationalisation of content in the textbooks” is appalling.
Under the veneer of reducing “content load” on students, deletions include the 2002 Gujarat riots, and omitted excerpts include “The Government of India cracked down on organisations that were spreading communal hatred. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh were banned for some time. Communal politics began to lose its appeal”. Revisionist tendencies are evident in these examples, particularly in the systematic erasure of chapters that discuss contentious events and empires — Theme 14: “Understanding Partition” and Theme 9: “Kings and Chronicles, the Mughal Courts”. History textbooks lack nuance, and the pedagogical methods of these subjects remain archaic.
Teachers in discussions, if any, bring to the table their own entrenched biases, discouraging moderate approaches. Bollywood movies recounting historical events exacerbate the problem by offering black and white interpretations devoid of any nuance, indoctrinating those who never read of these events in their school textbooks. The need of the hour is to have textbooks that recount all important phases of India’s rich history objectively, no matter how “unsettling” certain topics may seem (Editorial page, “History as battlefield — the perils of reversing the past”, April 15).
Keshav Aggarwal,
New Delhi
CSK’s win
‘Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached’ is the quote I am reminded of after watching CSK’s win against Lucknow Super Giants (‘Sport’ page, “Dhoni, Dube keep cool as CSK snaps losing streak”, April 15). Despite being mocked and its team members depressed after consecutive losses, CSK pulled together as a team with the right attitude, approach and gameplay under the guidance of its talisman, M.S. Dhoni. MSD has proved that captaincy does not lie in one’s age alone but also by one’s ability to lead in times of distress.
R. Srivatsan,
Chennai
Letters emailed to [email protected]
must carry the postal address.
Published – April 16, 2025 12:24 am IST