Textbook revision panel chief objects to NCERT books

Kannada writer-thinker Prof Baraguru Ramachandrappa, who headed the textbook revision committee in the state, has advised the state government against adopting National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks.

Reacting to the recent statement by the Primary and Secondary Education Minister S R Srinivas that the state government was thinking of revising the textbooks, Prof Ramachandrappa said, "The committee headed by me had revised the textbooks by consulting experts from all the sectors, and also done a comparative study with NCERT textbooks. When this is the case, what is the need to translate NCERT textbooks."

Instead of translating and adopting NCERT textbooks, which are lacking on local issues, Baraguru Ramachandrappa advised the Primary and Secondary Education department to insert corrections, if they found any errors or complaints about the existing textbooks or any controversy raised.

Speaking to DH, Baraguru said, "There is a provision for 5% revision even after complete revision of textbooks being used at the state schools. We are not saying that the books revised by our committee are ultimate. There is always a provision to update, make corrections during printing every year. But, my objection is for state adopting NCERT textbooks at all the levels."

The committee, which was constituted during the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, had revised the textbooks from class I to X. As many as 27 sub-committees were constituted, under the revision committee, to look into the subjects.

During the revision, the committee had realised that the Maths, Science and Social Science textbooks prescribed for Class VI were of NCERT. The revision panel had received instructions to retain the same, but it appealed to the department to retain state books at least for Social Science. "It is important to teach kids the local issues. When it comes to Social Science it is must to teach local/state history. So, we made it clear that our children study state history and retained state books for social science," explained Baraguru Ramachandrappa.