NCERT Textbook Row: 'Name-withdrawal spectacle for media attention,' say India’s top academics

Academicians and vice-chancellors from India’s top institutes, including JNU, IITs and IIMs, have lambasted “arrogant and self-interested academicians” over the latter’s “name-withdrawal spectacle” designed to malign NCERT.“We call intellectuals, academicians, and concerned citizens to sign this form to expose arrogant and self-interested academicians who want to derail the implementation of NEP 2020 and much-needed and long overdue updation of the school curriculum,” said the collective of 73 top-notch academicians.Earlier, a number of academicians as well as political scientists such as Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, who were part of the textbook development committee of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), had asked the council to drop their names from textbooks over “several substantive revisions of the original texts”.A joint statement issued by 73 academicians alleged that there have been deliberate attempts to malign the NCERT in the last three months and this reflects the “intellectual arrogance of academicians who want students to study 17-year-old textbooks”.The signatories to the statement include the vice-chancellors of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Tezpur University, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, The English and Foreign Languages University, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi University, Bangalore University, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, the NIT Jalandhar director, the chairman of the Board of Governors, IIM Kashipur, the ICSSR secretary and the NIOS chairman.“In the past three months, there have been deliberate attempts to malign the NCERT, a leading public institution, and disrupt the much-needed process for curriculum updation,” the statement said.“Academicians trying to capture media attention through this name-withdrawal spectacle seem to have forgotten that textbooks are an outcome of collective intellectual engagement and rigorous efforts,” the statement said.The scholars who have suggested the changes in the textbooks have not suggested any epistemic rupture in the existing domain of knowledge, but just rationalised the course content as per contemporary knowledge needs.“As regards the decision of who decides what is unacceptable and what is desirable it is argued that every new generation has the right to make additions/deletions to the existing knowledge base,” it added.The NCERT, however, has said the withdrawal of anyone’s association is out of the question as textbooks at the school level are developed on the basis of knowledge and understanding of a given subject and at no stage, individual authorship is claimed.“Through misinformation, rumours and false allegations, they want to derail the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) and disrupt the updation of NCERT textbooks,” the joint statement said.“Their demand that students continue to study from 17-year-old textbooks rather than updated textbooks in sync with contemporary developments and pedagogical advancement reveals intellectual arrogance. In their quest to further their political agenda, they are ready to endanger the future of crores of children across the country.  While students are eagerly awaiting updated textbooks, these academicians are continuing to create hurdles and derail the entire process,” it added.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.