‘Bharat’ Not India In New Social Science Curriculum (image-pixabay)
A high-level committee set up by the NCERT to revise school curriculum has recommended to use Bharat instead of India as the name of the country in school textbooks from primary to high-school level.
Chairman of the committee and retired professor C.I Isaac, a historian and RSS ideologue has said that the committee has also decided to water down the focus on ‘Hindu defeats’ in the curriculum, reports The Print.
The seven-member committee has added new dimension to the debate by considering the term Bharat to be used instead of India. This controversial debate began on September 5, after the Union government sent invites for a G20 dinner hosted by the President in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of ‘President of India’.
Issac said to the Print that the committee unanimously agreed to the proposal. The committee also highlighted the importance of teaching Hindu victories as of right now the textbook focuses more on Hindu defeats.
“In contrast, Hindu victories are not mentioned. Why do our textbooks not teach our students that Muhammed Ghori was killed by Indian tribal people while he was returning after plundering India? Why is the Battle of Colachel (Kingdom of Travancore vs Dutch East India Company) missing from our textbooks? Why is the period of Emergency not taught in detail?” Issac said.
He also added that the committee has decided to the classify the Indian historical period to classical, medieval and modern. He suggested that the term ancient should be replaced with classical.
25 committees were formed by the NCERT in December 2021 to prepare position papers on various subjects and themes. Previously the Print has reported that the committee has suggested the new NCERT textbooks to include more of achievements of ancient India. They have also recommended to introduce Sanskrit as part of curriculum in schools.
A paper has been submitted by the state level groups on social sciences who were appointed to suggest inputs to the new curriculum. The paper submitted suggested that “Indian Knowledge System could be in our social science curriculum under India Studies similar to Pakistan Studies in Pakistan”.
The New Education Policy 2020 aims to focus on Indian Knowledge System. Under this policy the government aims to bring several reforms in the Indian educational system.
