Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

A clarification

This is with reference to the interview with Professor K.N. Panikkar, General President, Indian History Congress; published in the Oped page on February 25, 2008. I am happy to know that Prof. Panikkar has hailed NCERT textbooks for their neutrality and unbiasedness. But in the interview he has stated that NCERT textbooks are used in 3 per cent of the schools in the country, which is not statistically correct. As per the figures of the 7th All India School Education Survey, there were 90,741 secondary schools and 43,869 senior secondary schools as on September 30, 2002.

As on September 30, 2006, there are 8,736 CBSE-affiliated senior secondary schools including 136 schools located abroad. In addition, 7 States, namely Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Sikkim and Uttarakhand have been granted copyright for using NCERT textbooks in their State-run schools. The total number of such schools in these 7 States is 9,218. This means, out of 1,34,610 secondary and senior secondary schools in the country, NCERT textbooks are used in 17,954 schools.

So, 13.33 per cent schools in the country use NCERT textbooks and not 3 per cent as stated by Prof. Panikkar.

Bishnu Charan Patro,

Assistant Public Relations Officer, NCERT, New Delhi

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