Panel to right textbook anomalies

In an attempt to set right discrepancies in school textbooks, the government has constituted a textbook revision committee. The committee will look into various errors in the newly introduced State syllabus textbooks.

All textbooks from classes 1 to 10 will be scrutinised for this purpose. A government order has been issued to Karnataka Textbook Society on Tuesday. Textbook Society Managing Director Nagendra Kumar told Deccan Herald that as many as 164 members have been pooled for this task.

The members are subject experts selected by the Textbook Society. The recommendations for revisions made by the Revision Committee would be implemented for the academic year 2015-16. Prior to the constitution of the Revision Committee, the Textbook Society had begun preliminary revisions in these books. In the light of concerns raised by schoolteachers about the difficulty level of content of SSLC mathematics textbooks, last month, experts scrutinised the textbook.

Soon, schools were told that more than 200 problems in the maths textbook would not be included for SSLC 2015 exam. “We have already rectified several mistakes pointed out. The Revision Committee will further scrutinise the books for discrepancies,” Nagendra Kumar added.

Meanwhile, a section of the teachers under All India Save Education Committee  (AISEC), who have voiced concerns against the indiscriminate merging of mythology and history in the newly introduced textbooks, will urge the Revision Committee to take up the matter seriously.

The teachers want the Textbook Society to revise contents in social science, science and language textbooks where mythology has been treated on par with history. Alleging saffronisation in textbooks, the teachers have also taken objection to inclusion of Sanskrit verses from the Vedas in science textbooks, terming it biased and irrelevant.

“We have asked for a meeting with Primary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar. We will bring it to his notice and request him to look into the issue immediately,” said Rajashekar V N of AISEC.

Asked about the Revision Committee’s stand on saffronisation, Nagendra Kumar said the committee was not exclusively constituted to look into it but it was open to receiving inputs on any topic from stakeholders. As far as receiving inputs for scrutiny of textbooks, stakeholders could directly approach the Textbook Society. No separate announcement would be made for this purpose, he added.