Kerala’s education minister V Sivankutty, amid the controversy over the decision to remove certain sections from NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training), said Friday that the state may print its books if it is denied permission by the Union to teach the omitted material.
He said that the decision to remove certain parts of history from textbooks, such as the Mughal period and Gujarat riots, was wrong. The government had already told the Union Government and NCERT its strong reservations.
“Kerala will always uphold secular and constitutional values. We believe that the omitted sections should be taught at schools. This is not the way to teach history. We are currently examining the best way to teach these. We can print textbooks independently,” he said, adding “Majority of teachers have also condemned the move to change the history to suit political lines.”
“What the NCERT did is unacceptable to us. The state would be forced into printing its textbooks if the situation continued. This is not the way to impose central ideals onto states. We will be forced to pursue alternate options,” he said adding the Centre should reconstitute the NCERT Board by giving ample representation to states.
Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister at the time, had sent a similar letter to the Union Government criticising the decision.
“You cannot reject historical facts which are inconvenient by just cutting them out from textbooks. Sangh Parivar is constantly afraid of history because it reveals its true colors. They resort to rewriting history and masking it with lies,” he had tweeted last week condemning the move.
He said, “Saffronisation of schoolbooks was the objective behind the move and all democratic forces should oppose it.”