Karnataka cabinet approves textbook revision; leaves out chapters on Hedgewar, Savarkar
The state’s minister for primary and secondary education, Madhu Bangarappa, said that all changes introduced by the BJP government in 2022 were reversed.
Bengaluru The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday approved the revision of Social Science and Kannada textbooks for classes 6 to 10 in state schools, leaving out chapters on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder KB Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar, in what the government described as an effort to rectify the “distortion of history” and “saffronisation of the syllabus” under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime.
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The state’s minister for primary and secondary education, Madhu Bangarappa, said that all changes introduced by the BJP government in 2022 were reversed.
“Whatever changes they have done last year, we have changed it and reintroduced whatever was there last to last year. In the interest of the children, we have done the least now. That is only in Kannada language from class 6 to 10, and social studies from classes 6 to 10.”
“We have always maintained that the text books were distorted to fuel certain agenda and influence young minds with wrong history. We plan to correct it,” Bangarappa said last week.
Some of the key omissions include chapters on right-wing ideologue Chakravarthy Sulibele, Sanskrit and Kannada scholar Bannanje Govindacharya.
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Meanwhile, chapters on educationist Savitribai Phule, India’s first prime miister Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to his daughter Indira Gandhi, and a poem on BR Ambedkar, which were removed last year, were restored.
The government will also make it mandatory for all schools to hold a reading of the Preamble to the Constitution, a person aware of the development said.
Bangarappa said the education department will come up with supplementary textbooks clarifying the changes, rather than scrapping the existing textbooks altogether. There are more than 72,000 government and private aided schools in the state, in which more than 10 million children study, according to government data.
The Congress, in its poll manifesto ahead of this year’s assembly elections, promised to reverse such changes made to textbooks during the BJP regime.
On May 29, around 30 academicians and writers met chief minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru and submitted a memorandum with various demands to reform the education sector, including revisions in textbooks, and the ban on wearing the hijab in educational institutions.
Renowned writer SG Siddaramaiah, who was among those who met the chief minister, welcomed Thursday’s decision.
“If it is in the interest of the students, I welcome the move. However, the revisions should be made by just one person. The education will impact lakhs of students. If it has been done in a democratic way, that’s good,” he said.
Last year, the Textbook Revision Committee, headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha, drew flak from writers, academics, religious leaders and Opposition parties, who accused the government-appointed panel of attempting to “saffronise” the curriculum by dropping works of social reformers and progressive thinkers. Doubts were also raised about the credentials of Chakratirtha and other members of the committee.
Among the objections raised included the omission of chapters on social reformer Narayana Guru, freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, and works of progressive writers such as Sara Aboobacker and P Lankesh. Meanwhile, chapters on RSS founder KB Hedgewar, works of right-wing ideologues such as Chakravarti Sulibele, Govinda Pai and Bannanje Govindacharya, among others, were included.
Objections were also raised over omissions and commissions in chapters relating to religious icons such as 12th century social reformer Basavanna, and personalities such as Ambedkar. Some noted writers, including Devanur Mahadev, G Ramakrishna and SG Siddaramaiah, had withdrawn permission for use of their works in the textbooks in protest.
The state BJP warned on Thursday that it would not sit quiet over the revisions, which it alleged were part of the Congress’s “appeasement policy”.
“They want votes of Muslims. Siddramaiah’s govt is against Hindus. They might even reintroduce hijab. They want to attract votes of minorities and politicise everything,”former education minister BC Nagesh said.
BJP MLC N Ravikumar alleged that the chief minister was indulging in “politics of hate”, and condemned the removal of chapters of Hagdewar from the textbooks. “Siddaramaiah is an experienced and a senior politician. I would like to request him not to indulge in politics of hate. Will students become anti-nationals by studying Sarvarkar’s lessons?”
He added: “We will take this issue to the people and the Parliamentary elections, Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections, parents and the students.”