The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has eliminated mentions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India’s first education minister and freedom fighter, from the latest edition of the class 11 political science textbook. In an effort to streamline the syllabus, the NCERT removed several portions from the curriculum, including lessons on the Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, and the Naxalite movement, among others, citing redundancy and irrelevance, according to an official statement.
The initial sentence of the first chapter of the class 11 political science textbook, “Constitution – Why and How,” underwent a modification where Azad’s name was removed from the list of members present in the constituent assembly committee meetings. The updated line reads, “Usually, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel or BR Ambedkar chaired these Committees.” Furthermore, in the tenth chapter of the same textbook, titled “The Philosophy of the Constitution,” the mention of Jammu and Kashmir’s conditional accession has been removed, the statement mentioned.
The paragraph that was removed stated that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian union was predicated on preserving its autonomy as outlined in Article 370 of the Constitution. Additionally, it highlighted that the Maulana Azad Fellowship, which had been initiated in 2009 to support students from six designated minorities, was terminated by the Ministry of Minority Affairs last year. The fellowship provided financial aid for a period of five years, the statement said.
Although the rationalisation note did not refer to any modifications made to the political science textbook of class 11, the NCERT has stated that no reduction in the curriculum occurred this year. The syllabus was rationalised in June of the previous year. “Certain changes not finding mention in the rationalised content book could be an ‘oversight’,” NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani said.
With inputs from PTI.