NEW DELHI: The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee on regulatory mechanisms for textbooks and parallel textbooks taught in schools outside the government system has recommended the setting up of a National Textbook Council to monitor material produced across the country.

The committee, headed by historian Zoya Hasan, submitted its report to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh recently. The council should be an autonomous and independent body "so as to genuinely represent civil society and academics". It should double up as a forum where citizens can register complaints over textbooks.

"Examine complaints"

While the task of providing the council a legal framework has been left to the Government, should the CABE accept the recommendation, the committee says the least such a body can do is examine the complaints and place its views in the public domain to generate a debate and sensitise people.

The committee found that textbooks used in schools run by religious and social institutions contained a great deal of communal propaganda material. It went through textbooks used by Vidya Bharati schools, including Shishu Mandirs, and madrasas across 11 States. It also examined books brought out by private publishers and State Government schools, which are not part of the Central Board of Secondary Education.

The committee has suggested that the CABE set up a standing committee to keep itself updated on textbook-related issues. The standing committee will be guided by the Textbook Council and should be empowered to prepare the guidelines and outline the parameters for a periodic review of textbooks to be completed within six months of the beginning of the academic year.

The reviews will examine the social content of books and assess their standards, relevance and suitability for the age group.

Core principles

Though appreciative of the diversity in curricular material, the committee says textual material must be produced within the framework of the Constitution and in transparent processes. It must adhere to the core principles of egalitarianism, democracy and secularism.

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