The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ex-NCERT Director defends changes in school curriculum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ex-NCERT Director defends changes in school curriculum

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, OCT. 13. The former Director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), J.S. Rajput, said the changes brought in the school curriculum in the last five years were aimed at teaching positive aspects of Indian history apart from inculcating values and a scientific temper among the students.

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Dr. Rajput found fault with the attempts to withdraw the books by the current Government and introduce textbooks prepared three decades ago. "What will the children learn from them when the worldwide trend was to change the curriculum every five years." He said a three-member committee of historians constituted by the Government to "detoxify" the books could not come out with any substantial reasons before recommending the books to be withdrawn immediately.

`Objections irrelevant'

"Let them show one paragraph that could be deleted," he said and wanted the document to be put before the public. He termed the objections cited by them as irrelevant. "They objected to the word sacred while describing Saraswati river. Moreover, even the US satellites were not able to trace the river that sunk thousands of years ago. Even a seminar was held in Pakistan recently to discuss the Indus valley and Saraswati civilisations," he said.

Dr. Rajput argued that the changes in the curriculum were based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee submitted in February 1999. The committee had members of all political parties and regions and the report was passed by Parliament. "People opposing the new curriculum found communalism only when NCERT adopted the report and not when it was submitted," he said. "If India's civilisation is taught, it should not be termed communal." He reminded that even the UNESCO had stressed the fact that education should be rooted in local culture.

Defends curriculum

Terming the curriculum designed during his regime as a model one, he said it was accepted by a majority, except a small group. He suggested that the curriculum should be changed every five years incorporating the latest developments and infusing new accepted methods of learning. He alleged that the Government was targeting him personally, adding that the Government had even stopped an award given by the UNESCO for his academic achievements over the last 40 years.

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