http://www.hindu.
com/2007/ 02/14/stories/ 2007021415630400 .htm
JAIPUR: Educational experts analysing textbooks
of secondary classes in Rajasthan have called
for their withdrawal in view of their "objectionable'
' content -- promoting hatred and prejudices
against Dalits and minorities -- and asked the
Centre to stop funding the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
in the State.
The experts, who attended a State-level workshop
on the State Secondary Education Board's textbooks
here
over the weekend, felt that the books formed
part of the ruling BJP's larger agenda for social
mobilisation on communal lines by invoking religious
symbols and sentiments.
The textbooks, especially those on sociology
and political science taught to senior secondary
students, extol "virtues'' of fascism and
caste hierarchy, hold "appeasement of minorities''
responsible for terrorism and project the founders
of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as "visionary
leaders''.
The participants in the workshop, organised
by the People's Union for Civil Liberties and
20 other civil rights bodies, decided to apprise
the teachers, students, parents, and the public
at large of the dangerous consequences of "polluting
young minds'' through half-truths and distortion
of facts.
Vinod Raina, Member of the Knowledge Commission,
said the contents of textbooks went not only
against the
spirit of the Constitution but also the Central
Government's Common Minimum Programme. He said
the Union Human Resource Ministry should exert
pressure on the State Government to withdraw
textbooks.
Apoorvanand of Delhi University's Hindi Department
said the textbooks, designed by the State Secondary
Education Board after rejecting the NCERT curriculum,
were promoting prejudices and intolerance among
the impressionable adolescents. The groups promoting
secular ethos should unite to oppose such books,
he added.
Smriti of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi,
said the textbooks violated the National Curriculum
Framework-2005 by failing to focus on activity-based
teaching and encourage students to do any kind
of reflective or critical thinking.
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