Yogendra Yadav, Suhas Palshikar threaten legal action against NCERT: ‘No right to…’

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The ongoing controversy around the revised NCERT textbooks escalated on Monday as noted academics Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar threatened legal action against the council for allegedly publishing the new textbooks under their names without consent.

Yadav and Palshikar has written to the NCERT vehemently objecting to the latest revisions in the textbooks. They said NCERT has no moral and legal right to distort textbooks and publish them under their names despite their explicit refusal, reported PTI.

The revised textbooks, now available in the market, reportedly minimise references to the BJP‘s ‘rath yatra’ and the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, while focusing prominently on the Supreme Court‘s decision to allow the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site.

The revised Class 12 political science textbook, does not mention the Babri masjid, but refers to it as a “three-domed structure”. It has pruned the Ayodhya section from four to two pages and deleted details from the earlier version.

In response to mounting criticism, NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani defended the revisions, asserting that the changes were part of routine updates aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. He dismissed allegations of saffronisation, arguing that the adjustments aimed to foster a positive educational environment and prevent the propagation of potentially divisive historical narratives.

Asked about references to Gujarat riots or Babri masjid demolition being tweaked in NCERT textbooks, Saklani said, “Why should we teach about riots in school textbooks? We want to create positive citizens not violent and depressed individuals”.

“Should we teach our students in a manner that they become offensive, create hatred in society or become victim of hatred? Is that education’s purpose? Should we teach about riots to such young children … when they grow up, they can learn about it but why school textbooks. Let them understand what happened and why it happened when they grow up. The hue and cry about the changes is irrelevant,” he said.

source by : HT

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