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NCERT reconstitutes Class 11, 12 political science textbook team; four members have RSS, ABVP links
The 20-member Textbook Development Team includes four members with documented links to the RSS, its student affiliate ABVP, or Sangh-affiliated organisations.
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The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reconstituted the team tasked with developing new political science textbooks for Classes 11 and 12, with its mandate including the integration of “cultural rootedness”, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), equity and inclusion, value education and educational technology.
The 20-member Textbook Development Team (TDT), notified on August 14, includes at least four members with documented links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its student affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), or Sangh-affiliated organisations.
The team will be headed by academic and political analyst Sandeep Shastri, vice-president of Nitte (deemed to be a university), Bengaluru. It has been asked to complete the Class 11 textbook by November 30 this year and the Class 12 textbook by July 30, 2027, in line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
The notification, issued by NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani, says the team is being constituted “with a view to further strengthen and streamline” development of the textbooks and related teaching-learning material.
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Among the members is Yadunath Deshpande, senior consultant with the ministry of education and a member of the National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC). ABVP records identify him as its joint state organising secretary for Maharashtra in 2014.
Prashant Divekar, who heads the Teacher Education Centre and Research Programme at Pune-based Jnana Prabodhini, is also on the team. The institution has longstanding links with the Sangh ecosystem, while Divekar’s professional profile describes his educational approach as rooted in “Bhartiya educational philosophy”.
Another member, Vandana Mishra, a professor at JNU’s Centre for Political Studies, is a former national secretary of the ABVP.
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Ravi Rameshchandra Shukla, associate professor at JNU’s Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, has served on the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Democratic Governance, published by the Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership, which operates under the RSS-affiliated Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini. JNU’s profile records his research interests in culture and nationalism.
The team also includes academics and educators from JNU, Delhi University, National Law University Delhi, Chanakya University, National University of Study and Research in Law, Jindal Global Law School, Pondicherry University, Utkal University and IGNOU.
The notification, issued by NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani, said the team was being constituted “with a view to further strengthen and streamline” development of the textbooks and related teaching-learning material.
It was asked to complete the Class 11 textbook by November 30 this year and the Class 12 textbook by July 30, 2027, in line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
The notification said the team will finalise syllabi and develop corresponding teaching-learning material, including the two textbooks, while ensuring linkages with other secondary-stage textbooks. It will take guidance from curricular area groups on social science, languages, IKS, environmental education, innovative pedagogy and teaching-learning material, and ensure interdisciplinarity and “the integration of multilingual perspectives”.
The TDT has been asked to follow cross-cutting themes including “equity and inclusion, age-appropriate pedagogy, value education, ICT, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), and Environmental Education”.
A Textbook Core Group comprising members of the NSTC and the National Curriculum Framework Oversight Committee will periodically review progress and provide feedback on draft chapters. Each textbook will also be reviewed for integration of themes including “cultural rootedness, Indian Knowledge Systems, inclusion, educational technology, assessment, etc.”
The team may involve additional experts, teachers, illustrators or designers as special invitees, subject to approval by the NCERT director. NCERT has so far released new textbooks for Classes 1 to 9 in line with NCF-SE 2023.
