Hamline University in Minnesota, USA, recently fired a professor for showing a painting of Muhammad during his lecture. The course was about global art history wherein the professor had included a section on Islamic art. It was within this module that he showed a particular painting of the prophet Muhammad. To his credit, he had already asked Muslim students that if they found it offensive or hurtful, they had the option of leaving the class. But as it so happened, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) accused the professor of Islamophobia because he included that particular painting. It should be pointed out that the MSA, which has many offshoots, is known for its fondness of Islamism. Some studies have argued that the group is infested with the ideas of Hassan al- Banna and Abu ala al-Maududi, both ideological wellsprings of Islamism.    

The university, in a very hurried decision, without even giving a chance to the professor to explain himself, relieved him from the job. According to the university, it did so because, ‘it was decided that it was best that this faculty member was no longer part of the Hamline community’. The University, explaining the decision to all employees further said, ‘respect for the observant Muslim students in that classroom should have superseded academic freedom’. Coming from a university, this is really worrying and points to a larger issue about engaging with Islamic sentiments without giving up the core values of freedom that define academic life.        

But first let us see the painting in question. The painting depicts Muhammad receiving the first revelation of the Quran brought by Angel Gibreel. This moment has been celebrated all over the Muslim world as Laylat ul Qadr (The Night of Power) and is generally ritualized as a night of prayer and gratitude. Far from being Islamophobic, the painting announces and extols the prophecy of Muhammad and Quranic revelation. Moreover, the original painting was part of the illustrated book written by the famous 14th century scholar, Rashid al Din Hamdani. It is important to recall that Rashid al Din was a historian, illustrator, calligrapher and a high-ranking administrator of the Ilkhanate/Mongol empire. Thus far from being Islamophobic, the painting witnesses the call to prophecy of Muhammad and was commissioned by a practicing Muslim himself. It is rather intriguing, how the mere showing of this painting by a professor constitutes any kind of Islamophobia.

Had the university done its homework before taking a decision, it would have known that the said painting has been increasingly used in history of art classes throughout the western world. Partly because of the aesthetics of the art work and partly in an effort to decolonize art; the academic world has been using this particular painting for long now.

Moreover, the university has completely missed the nuanced debate within the Muslim world regarding visual depictions of Muhammad. The art historian Christiane Gruber informs us that visual representations of Muhammad had been commonplace till recently, particularly in places of Shiite influences. One finds depictions of Muhammad with the face veiled throughout the Muslim world. The Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals commissioned such paintings and included them in texts. This was a time of ascendancy of Sufism and the paintings depicted the “luminous” character of the prophet or his many attributes. But it was not the case that the face of Muhammad was veiled in all paintings or hidden by a luminous light. In fact, naturalist and abstract depictions of the prophet went hand in hand and with the coming of print in the 19-20th centuries, there was a veritable explosion in the production and consumption of such images. Gruber tells us that especially in Iran, pictorial greetings with Muhammad images were commonly found in the market place.

These mass-produced images were mostly made and consumed by Muslims themselves. It is ironic therefore that Hamline University considered the particular image as being hurtful to Muslims. Even outside Iran, there is historical evidence that such images were used (though discreetly) by Muslims as aid to remembrance and meditation. In trying to exclude these pictures from the domain of Muslim aesthetics, the Hamline University seems to have sided with the neo-conservatives and Islamists within Muslims who argue that such depictions have always been forbidden in Islam. Throughout Muslim history and even today, there has never been a singular way of experiencing Islam. Consequently, one cannot say that Sunni way is better than the Shia simply because the latter uses pictures. In siding with one interpretation of Islam, Hamline University seems to be oblivious to such debates within the Islamic world. And this is not surprising in the least if the University authorizes a sectarian organization like the MSA to become the sole representative of Muslims. In the name of being inclusive, the University is in fact empowering a version of Islam which is inherently exclusivist.   

Universities are expected to create spaces for dialogue, dissent and pluralism. It might be possible that some Muslim students would have objected to the inclusion of a particular painting depicting Muhammad. But the answer to that shouldn’t be a knee jerk reaction like firing the professor; the better way for the University was to engage with such students. It is entirely possible that given the current state of the Muslim world, these Muslim students would themselves be unaware of their own iconic history. The University should have also asked the logical question as how a professor can teach a course of the history of art without using the visual medium as an aid to pedagogy.

But then if a university itself privileges religious sensitivities over academic freedom, then there is nothing much left to argue. If this ill-informed attitude continues, then the decay of the university system seems imminent.

Arshad Alam is a New Delhi-based independent researcher.

The post Should Respect for ‘an Islam’ Supersede Academic Freedom? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While the issue of the proposal of turning Reliance industries’ Nita Ambani into BHU Prof Nita Ambani has now taken a bizarre u-turn, there is much to be read between the lines here. Soon after a group of students on Tuesday staged a protest outside Vice-Chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar’s residence on the campus, a denial has reportedly come from the Ambanis’ Reliance industries as well. 

The students were protesting a ‘proposal’ that  Banaras Hindu University’s (BHU) Women studies and Development center had invited Nita Ambani, wife of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, to be a visiting professor. It was being reported that Nita Ambani has given verbal consent to the proposal sent to her on March 12. 

Prof. Kaushal Mishra, Dean of Social Sciences Dept was quoted in multiple news reports claiming that Nita Ambani was the best person to teach girl students considering her vast experience in the fields of business as well social activities: “As per the new policy of the Central government, our aim is to link studies with entrepreneurial skills. Neeta Ambani ji fits the slot,” adding that the proposal was sent “because the Reliance Foundation has done a lot of work in the field of women empowerment.” 

Then there were quotes from the Women’s center’s coordinator Prof. Nidhi Sharma who claimed that “linking students to employment is also an objective of educational institutions, which can be achieved through Nita Ambani’s business experiences.”  

However, as soon as the students’ protest was also reported, a loud denial came from the Reliance Industries Limited spokesperson who called the news reports “fake”. The RIL issued a statement to a news agency which was then reported across the board, it stated: “Reports that Nita Ambani will be a visiting lecturer at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) are fake. She hasn’t received an invitation from BHU.” The BHU itself clarified that it had “not taken any decision” to appoint Nita Ambani as a visiting professor, and that “no such proposal was discussed by the administration.”

Meanwhile, according to Indian Express, the students had protested and opposed the idea of offering the post to Ambani as it would set a “wrong example”. It was also reported that while the proposal has been sent only to Nita Ambani, two more names considered for the remaining two visiting faculty posts were that of Priti Adani, the wife of billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, and Usha Mittal, the wife of UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal. The report quoted Research scholar Shubham Tiwari: “Being the wife of a rich person is not an achievement and these people cannot be our icons. If you talk about women empowerment, then invite icons like Arunima Sinha, Bachendri Pal, Mary Kom or Kiran Bedi,” Tiwari said. He said Vice-Chancellor Bhatnagar told them that he had no information about the proposal being sent to Nita Ambani. Sources at the BHU confirm this. For now the news is being closely monitored and no further protests are being planned.

However, some in the university campus are wondering why this controversy has been generated at this time and what is it supposed to divert attention from?

“This dean had leaked the numbers of journalists Ravish Kumar, and Barkha Dutt, he had also had a mud-bath in public to ward of Covid-19. He is known for such things,” said a research scholar at BHU. According to a senior faculty member, this controversy is being seen as an embarrassing joke at the moment, “Now that the denials have come the issue may die down. However, if it is stoked again, and escalates, then even the teachers may protest.”  

Meanwhile, the IE reported that the BHU may go ahead with its plans to start a PG course on ‘Kashi Studies’ soon. Once again, Professor Kaushal Kishore Mishra has confirmed that the subject will be a part of the MA History course, as a specialisation. The Social Sciences Faculty will teach students about the political, religious and social history of the holy city of Varanasi reported IE. Prof Mishra was quoted in the report saying that the course is expected to get a go-ahead in the next academic council, “We are preparing a full course on Kashi Studies under the History Department of the Social Sciences Faculty. Our expert committee has approved the course. Under the course, students will study everything about Kashi (Varanasi) in detail, including its history, festivals, fairs, culture, religious significance, way of living, ghaats, temples, political and social journey and importance in freedom struggle. Given the increasing importance of Kashi at the global level, with the city being transformed and developed as a hub of religious tourism, a lot of people will be interested in learning about the city.”   

Related:

Nita Ambani may soon be teaching Women Studies at BHU
BHU administration agrees to open central library, students prevail!
IIT entrance exams amidst Covid-19?
University Campus or Cantonment?
Varuna Shastri Bridge now the only place of protest in Varanasi: DM

The post Was the ‘BHU Professor Nita Ambani’ controversy a diversion from other issues? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu

In what can only be termed as an ingenious appeal, Ganesh Devy – Thinker, Professor and Cultural Activist started a fast to call in the attention of the youth of Maharashtra to move beyond caste and religion while considering marriage.

The fast, which lasts for 8 days, starting on Gandhi Jayanti, rests on a very unique condition. In this period, Professor Devy, 69, will not consume any solid food until he gets a commitment of a 100 people every day to join him in his movement against communalism. He promises to eat only if the criteria of a 100 youth committing to the cause is fulfilled every day, else he only survives on water.

His appeal is for fostering secularism and for a modern India and he says, ““We cannot create modern India as long as intolerance and violence in the name of caste and religion does not end.”

He also plans to ask the consenting young people, who associate with this movement, to assemble in Nagpur in the last week of December for a two day sammelan called ‘The Mainstream India’. He is confident of at least 15,000 – 20,000 people attending the event

An email id (rsd@beyondcaste.com) and a Google form (https://forms.gle/U25bdt4uysMYMDoj7) which has been made available for the youth to register with the movement, has already garnered 900 responses from the young people of India in just 2 days of its commencement.

Who is Ganesh Devy and what does he stand for?

Ganesh Devy, as most know him, is a literary scholar, cultural activist and institution builder. He is best known for the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, and is popularly called the ‘man who discovered 750 languages’. He is also the creator of the Adivasi Academy.

Back in the 70s, he along with his wife, Surekha, would set out on his scooter every Saturday morning to a neighboring village in Baroda, where he resided earlier. He visited the villages to understand the people and spend time with them. This absence of an agenda and belief in equality among people—nullifying traditional hierarchies between the observer and observed, scholar and subject—won him not only the trust but also the faith of Adivasis.

Ganesh Devy decided to shift base from Vadodara to Dharwad after the murder of MM Kalburgi. Kalburgi’s death was the last straw for Devy who was deeply disturbed by the killings of NarendraDabholkar and GovindPansare.

He has since taken the lead in many agitations of writers and thinkers with focus on pluralism and the right to free expression. He says that these values are even more threatened today when the makings of a modern India are threatened by forces of communalism.

On asking why he took up such an innovative movement, he said that he wanted the youth of the country to fly out of their cage. The youth, he said, were being trapped in the cages of caste and religion which was fanned by hate by extremist groups. He said that neither did he nor his family members and even his children pay attention to caste while deciding their marriages. They simply got into the union as ‘human beings’.

What His Appeal Is and What It Is Not

Ganesh Devy says that his appeal is a step towards change. He knows that even in this grim atmosphere of hate, people are capable of change. He believes that people are capable of love and compassion.

His appeal is not a political stunt or a media event. His belief ‘love is the true religion’ is the only message he wants to give the youth. He has stood by this principle his entire life and wishes to take this plea of humanity to the young people of India.

His only wish is to see a country that has risen above the shackles of caste and religion to achieve its true potential.

We, at Sabrang India, stand with Professor Ganesh Devy in his noble movement. Do you?
 

The post “Go beyond caste and religion when you’re thinking of getting married”: Cultural Activist Ganesh Devy appeared first on SabrangIndia.

“I had never imagined that a WhatsApp forward would cost me my job, my dignity, and everything that I have loved”, said Professor Sunil Waghmare, worriedly. “I want my life back. I have had no experience of fighting injustice of this scale before” he says, referring to the mob that humiliated and slapped him within the campus premises, in public view. He was forced to leave his small room in Khopoli after the incident, and left for his village along with his family.

A whole month after the incident, Waghmare’s complaint to the police has led to the registration of a First Investigation Report (FIR) at Khopoli police station, accusing the principal Dr. Pawar of casteist discrimination, describing years of mental as well as physical harassment. The FIR was filed on 1st of May, at 00:57 hours, after a day long intense effort at the police station. On the following day, an all-party meeting of Khopoli’s political outfits was held. As local media reports show, the leaders threatened to launch a morcha if the “fake” atrocity case was not withdrawn.

The WhatsApp Incident

But how did this happen–how could a message sent in a closed group spiral into such violence within an interval of two days? Letters and memos served to the Professor over the past eight years reveal that he has been targeted for a much longer period. The WhatsApp based incident, his arrest, and suspension are only the climax of a protracted, targeted discrimination.

Was this the first time that a joke was shared on the group?

“It is not true that the group members would share messages purely administrative or official in nature. However, I was the only one to be warned after I forwarded a text about Shivaji Maharaj, someone I deeply respect. It was a forward about his birthday (being commemorated twice). I had received this on a different group, and simply re-posted it on my college group.” Screenshots of messages previously shared on the WhatsApp group reveal that prior to this incident, various kinds of messages were posted by members–jokes, comments, wishes, and festive greetings, among others. The WhatsApp group was far from being the “official communication” channel of the college, as the FIR against him says. When the police arrived at the scene of violence, they picked up Waghmare and subsequently summoned the WhatsApp group administrator, Professor Nagargoje, to lodge an FIR against Waghmare. (FIR no. 44, dated 17 March 2017, 5:35pm, Section 295A–Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
The WhatsApp group was created four years ago and has 34 members–the Professors and principal of KMC College, Khalapur. What transpired between the time the message was posted, that is on 15 March 2017 at 23:41 hours on the WhatsApp group, and the mob incident within campus premise in the afternoon of 17 March 2017? How did the “mob” get access to screenshots of the message shared on a closed group comprising only 34 members? Who really forwarded the message to outsiders? Who had gathered the mob that publicly thrashed Waghmare? What were their motives?

Video clips on YouTube by a local channel, Sanwad Marathi, depict the episode of the violence unleashed on Professor Waghmare. In the management office room (located within the campus premise next to the principal’s room), the Professor is seen sitting on a chair surrounded by about twenty people. He is initially asked questions about his WhatsApp message. The faces of the people are clear in the video clip. Suddenly, one person walks forward and starts slapping Waghmare and a commotion breaks out. Some are seen stopping the blows, some are seen contributing to it. When this ends, the people present in the room suddenly decide that Waghmare must not be allowed to sit on the chair. In the video clip on Youtube, they are seen asking him to sit on the floor. The clip then shows the Professor unconscious, resting his head on a table, and the police are lifting a semi-conscious person from the floor and then taking him to the police van, amidst loud chants of “Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhawani” by the onlookers. Matters get worse–he is arrested by the police, and made to spend a night in the police lock up. An emergency meeting of the management committee is held the same evening and he is suspended for six months with immediate effect.

Eye-witness accounts, the principal, colleagues of Waghmare, as well as local activists insist that those who entered the college premises on 17 March 2017 were neither students nor colleagues (as the media had initially reported) but were outsiders, most of whom belonged to political outfits. But how exactly were these “outsiders” mobilized based on a post shared on an internal WhatsApp group? If this was indeed about an offensive post, why was this not resolved in a non-violent way by a group consisting of Professors?

Relationship with the Principal

When one examines the kind of relations Waghmare shared with the members of the WhatsApp group, the one that stands out is his relationship with the principal, Dr. N.B. Pawar. Numerous memos, letters, and complaints over an eight-year period reveal the bitter relationship that the two shared. In a written statement submitted to the police urging for an FIR, Waghmare describes in detail his difficult relationship with the Principal. In the year 2014 alone, the principal had served as many as five memos (dated 12/03/14, 11/07/14, 17/09/14, 10/10/14, 27/11/14) to Waghmare–at least one every two months. The letter also reveals that the principal made Waghmare conscious of the latter’s dalit identity on numerous occasions over the last eight years, subtly as well as overtly. The principal has said, “Since you (Prof. Waghmare) belong to the SC community, it is on account of reservations that you have got these posts, despite not being capable,”[1] according to Waghmare’s letter.  

Born into the Maang community in Nanded, 34 year old Prof. Waghmare’s journey and career are characterized by struggles. After completing his M.Com in Nanded, and B.Ed in Yavatmal, he joined the KMC College, Khopoli on November 6, 2009 as an Assistant Professor in the Commerce Department. In September 2010, he was given additional responsibility by being appointed Vice Principal of the Commerce Department. “There were no problems that the management had reported with my work. But things changed once Dr. Pawar became the principal in 2012. Suddenly, I was slapped with several memos and show cause notices, and finally in March 2014, I was unfairly removed from the post”, said Waghmare, who is currently the Head of Department but was suspended after his arrest. His family has returned to their village in Nanded.

A Hurried Suspension on Vague and Frivolous Grounds

There are safeguards and university guidelines on suspension of a Professor belonging to an SC community. As per the rules, a three-member committee is to be constituted to decide upon the suspension of such a Professor, with one of the three members belonging to the SC community. However, this procedure was not followed in the hurry to suspend Waghmare for a six month term. In the suspension letter dated 17 March 2017, the charges mentioned are–“a) misconduct, b) moral turpitude etc., c) and misuse of social media (WhatsApp)”, with salary reduced to half the amount along with disciplinary enquiry. However, in reality, he has not received these half wages for the last two months, straining his already vulnerable financial situation.

One of the most detailed letters in this context is one written by Waghmare describing the discriminatory and prejudicial behavior of the Principal, dated 19 January 2015, two years and three months prior to this incident. At the time a copy of this letter was also sent to the President of the Khalapur Taluka Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (KTSPM), Khopoli which runs the college.

Why was a formal complaint with the police or SC/ST commissions not lodged before this incident?
 “When I gave the management my complaint letter in January 2015, they assured me that they would take action on it. It was on their request that I did not formally lodge a complaint anywhere else. To avoid badnaami (shame). For a few months after this, the principal was silent. However, nothing was done on my letter and a few months later he began harassing me again.”

Suddenly thrown out of his teaching Profession, Waghmare has been shuttling between the police station, courts, and lawyers in order to have the case against him quashed.

Reversal of Victim and Accused

With the victim facing arrest and the perpetrator free, the extent of subversion of justice leaves much to be answered. According to sources, the police had received several letters from various local level organizations and political outfits such as the Shiv Sena seeking Waghmare’s arrest for his WhatsApp forward. The response demonstrated by the police in arresting the victim, and inviting the assailants to lodge a case against him reveal how the system has responded to local political pressures instead of upholding law and order. In cases of caste atrocities, matters get worse with the threat of agitations and strikes. When met in person, the police denied that any such incident had taken place, and refused to talk to a fact-finding team that had visited the station. The consistent demand of the mob that Waghmare not be allowed to sit in a chair but be made to sit on the floor demonstrates the desire of the people to humiliate him. According to Waghmare, the mob reappeared at the police station and repeated the same demand there, due to which even at the police station, Waghmare was asked to rise from the chair and sit on the floor.

A copy of Waghmare’s statement seeking justice has also been sent to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Pune), the Superintendent of Police (Raigad), Vice Chancellor of the Mumbai University, the Reservation Cell of Mumbai University, Joint Director of Education (Panvel). The demands are: quashing the FIR against him, revoking the illegal suspension, dismissing the Principal who has had a history of targeting Dalits and initiating proceedings against him under the SC/ST laws.

On 1 May, 2017, an FIR was finally registered by the police in the name of Waghmare against the principal, Dr. Pawar, at 00:57 hours after a day-long drama at the police station. The recent Maratha agitations have meant that every case of caste atrocity is dismissed as false and it is a battle before an FIR is even lodged. However, the accused, Dr. Pawar, has not been arrested.

Prof. Sunil Waghmare, his wife Jyotsna, and their young twins continue to wait for the elusive silver lining to what seems like their life’s darkest time. They just want to be able to return to their home and their life.

This article was first published on indiaculturalforum.in.

The post How Violence was Provoked through a WhatsApp Forward Against a Professor appeared first on SabrangIndia.

आज तीन प्रतिष्टित यूनिवर्सिटी , Delhi university , JNU aur Punjab University के नतीजे एक साथ आये .
JNU में abvp का सफाया होना एक बहुत बड़े परिवर्तन का संकेत है.

9 फरबरी के बाद जिस तरह का हमला abvp, rss, मोदी सरकार और उसकी भोंपू मीडिया ने किया था उसका जबरदस्त जवाब jnu ने वाम को रिकॉर्ड जीत देकर दे दिया है .जेएनयु की जीत नागपुरी गुंडागर्दी, कार्पोरेट व मीडिया की संयुक्त ताकत के खिलाफ़ जीत है.

वाम छात्र संगठनों की जेएनयू में जीत कोई अनोखी बात नहीं है, लेकिन इस बार उन्होंने सिर्फ विरोधियों को नहीं हराया । युद्धोन्मादी, सांप्रदायिक और फ़ासिस्ट मीडिया को भी हराया है । मीडिया ने जेएनयू को ‘देशद्रोही’ बताने के छदम राष्ट्रवाद की आड़ में अभियान चलाया, पूरे देश में जेएनयू के प्रति घृणा पैदा करने की कोशिश की, लेकिन जेएनयू के छात्रों जबरदस्त लड़ाई से साबित किया की "असली देशभक्ति ” क्या होती है , और असली देश भक्त कौन है ? देश विरोधी नारेबाजी की किसने की थी? किसको गिरफ्तार किया गया था? 

बात उस समय ही साफ़ नज़र आ जाती है कि आखिर माज़रा क्या है. किस तरह रोहित वेमुला के केस में कटघरे में आ चुकी मोदी सरकार के लिए मुद्दे को डायवर्ट करना ज़रूरी था.और फिर जेएनयु तो हमेशा से संघियों की पीड़ा का सबब था. लेकिन इस संघी बिग्रेड के बाक़ी तमाम झूठ की तरह ही ये झूठ भी जनता के सामने आ ही गया.
Jnu ने बहुत कायदे से नकली देशभक्तों को जवाब दे दिया है. 25 साल पहले JNU में राजनीती शुरू करने वाली abvp की ऐतिहासिक हार हुई है। इस जीत के मायने को इस सन्दर्भ में भी समझना चाहिए की पिछला दौर काफी जटिल संघर्ष का दौर रहा है . पूरे देश में संघी ब्रिगेड ने दलितों, अल्पसंख्यको और वंचित तबको को निशाना बनाया है और जिसके खिलाफ पूरे देश में जबरदस्त प्रतिरोध भी हुआ है , इस प्रतिरोध में युवायों ने अति महतवपूर्ण भूमिका अदा की है और उसमे भी Jawahar Lal Nehru University ने हिरावल दस्ते के भूमिका निभाई है .

Occupy UGC, II Madras , रोहित बेमुला की संस्थागत हत्या , दादरी, दनकौर का सवाल रहा हो या कलबुर्गी , पंसारे की हत्या के प्रतिरोध का Jawahar Lal Nehru University के छात्रों ने तीखा प्रतिरोध किया है. पूरे देश के पैमाने पर जो उन्मादी माहोल बनाया गया था और मुख्य निशाना JNU था जिसकी गंभीरता समझते हुए वामछात्र संगठनो ने मिल कर एक जुझारू लड़ाई लड़ी और JNU से इस प्रतिगामी ABVP के सफाए के लिए साथ मिलकर चुनाव लड़ने का अति महतवपूर्ण फैसला लिया , जिसके पीछे चुनाव जीतने की तात्कालिक सोच न होकर प्रतिरोध और सवालिया संस्कृति की रक्षा की सोच प्रमुख थी . इस सोच के आधार पर SFI और AISA ने साँझा पैनल बनाकर JNU में चुनाव लड़ा और JNU के अन्दर abvp की ऐतिहासिक हार की इबादत लिखी .

JNU ने साबित किया की वोह असल देशभक्त हैं जो कश्मीर से लेकर कन्याकुमारी तक की तक़लीफ़ों से विचलित होकर लुटियन दिल्ली में तूफ़ान मचाने की ताकत रखते हैं और जिनके आगे सरकार , पुलिस, कार्पोरेट मीडिया बोनी साबित हुई। देश की वास्तविक एकता का रास्ता येही है की हम सबके सवाल और तकलीफ को अपना समझे और उसके खिलाफ प्रतिरोध दर्ज करे. पिछले दिनों JNU ने इस काम को बखूबी अंजाम दिया है .यह वैचारिक टकराव असल में दो सपनों के बीच का संघर्ष था और आखिरकार JNU ने तय कर दिया है कि उसे भगत सिंह और आंबेडकर के सपनों के साथ जीना है नाकि हेडगेवार और गोलवरकर के सपनों के साथ. Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad का सफाया  JNU की तरह पंजाब यूनिवर्सिटी में भी हुआ है . Delhi University में ABVP ने ३ पद जीते हैं पर ४४ में से मात्र ११ कॉलेज ही उसके कब्ज़े में आये हैं , ३३ में उसको हार का सामना करना पड़ा है.

 
Pradeep Sharma शिया कॉलेज, Lucknow में समाज शास्त्र पढ़ाते हैं। सामाजिक और राजनैतिक कार्यकर्ता हैं और अपने छात्र जीवन में sfi के नेता रहे हैं

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Press Trust of India reports that a Delhi court on Saturday, March 19 granted bail to former Delhi University lecturer SAR Gilani, who had been arrested on sedition charges in connection with an event on February 10 at the Delhi Press Club . Police had opposed the bail plea saying the event was “an attack on the soul of India” and it was “contempt of court.”

Additional sessions Judge Deepak Garg announced the bail after hearing the police and Gilani’s counsel, who said there was no evidence that Gilani had raised anti-India slogans at the event. Gilani had to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety of like amount. Satish Tamta, counsel for Gilani, had aruged that criticising Supreme Court judgments was not contempt of court.

Delhi Police said Gilani and others were eulogising as martyrs Maqbool Bhat who was hanged in 1984 and Afzal Guru who was hanged three years ago after being convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack case.

”If he had not liked the SC judgement, he could have thought in his mind and within the four walls of the his house. But he had assembled people for the meeting in the heart of the Capital for that purpose which was an attack on the soul of India,” police had said while opposing the bail plea. Gilani's counsel, however, pointed out that the first information report (FIR) states that people raising slogans at the venue had been told to desist by the office-bearers of the Press Club and asked to leave, which they did. 

”There is nothing on record that Gilani shouted anti-India slogans or asked others to do so. It was a meeting of intellectuals to discuss the Kashmir issue,” counsel for Gilani said. He pointed out that Gilani, who was arrested on February 16, has been in jail for last around one month and is not required for the probe any further.

Former professor of Delhi University, Gilani was  arrested on February 16, and had filed his bail applications before the Patiala House Court. On February 19, a magisterial court had dismissed his bail application after the police alleged that "hatred" was being generated against the government. Meanwhile, Gilani's judicial custody was also extended by two weeks by a Delhi court.

Police had earlier told the court that an event was held on February 10 in which banners were placed showing Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat as martyrs.It had also said the hall in the Press Club was booked by Gilani through one Ali Javed by using his credit card and another person Mudassar was also involved. At the Press Club event, a group had allegedly shouted slogans hailing Guru, following which the police had lodged a case under sections 124 A (sedition), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC against Gilani and other unnamed persons. The police had claimed to have registered the FIR taking suo motu cognisance of media clips of the incident.

Following registration of the FIR, the police questioned professor Gilani and Ali Javed, a Press Club member who had booked the hall for the event, for two days. Earlier, Gilani was arrested in connection with the 2001 Parliament attack case but was acquitted for "need of evidence" by Delhi High Court in October 2003, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2005. 

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Educational policies are prepared by committees set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). These are approved by the CABE and also tabled for approval in both houses of Parliament. Several major committees have been set up since independence: the Secondary Education Commission (1952-53), Education and National Development (1964-66), National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and Programme of Action (POA) 1992. The Review Committee of the NPE 1986, known as the Acharya Ramamoorthy Committee (1990), reviewed the NPE 1986 and the Yash Pal Committee’s ‘Learning Without Burden’ (1994) suggests ways of reducing curricular load.

The National Curriculum Frameworks

Curriculum development, syllabus design and the preparation of instructional materials, including textbooks and their evaluation, began with the emergence of the NCERT as a nodal agency at the national level in the area of school education. The NCERT was involved directly in the process of curriculum development and preparation of textbooks. As the State Institutes of Education (SIEs), State Textbook Boards and State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) were established, these gradually followed the pattern of providing technical support to research and development activities underlying the formulation and the preparation of textbooks at the state/union territory levels.

1. At the central level, based on education policy, a National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is brought out by the NCERT. Since independence, three NCFs have been framed on the basis of the recommendations of the two major committees, 1968 and 1986. The NCF framed in 2000 is the only NCF that was framed without a policy statement preceding it.

2. The NPE 1986 defines the NCF as follows: "The national system of education will be based on a national curricular framework which contains a common core along with other components that are flexible." Common core has been defined by the NPE as follows: history of India’s freedom movement; constitutional obligations; promotion of values such as India’s common cultural heritage; egalitarianism; democracy and secularism; equality of the sexes; protection of the environment; removal of social barriers; observance of the small family norm; inculcation of the scientific temper. Textbooks which seek to fulfil curriculum objectives must reflect the above-mentioned aspects of the ‘core’.

3. The NCF 2000 makes fundamental departures from the earlier NCFs and policies in respect of the role of values, the place of religion, equality of educational opportunity, etc. These departures generated wide controversy both with regard to (a) the process of preparation and (b) content of the NCF.

4. The Executive Committee of the NCERT in its meeting of July 19, 2004 decided to initiate a review of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2000. It decided to form five structures to undertake the NCF review. These structures are: the National Steering Committee; National Focus Group; Committee for Consultation with States; Research Unit; Coordination Committee. The National Steering Committee chaired by Professor Yash Pal has members including scholars from different disciplines, principals and teachers, representatives of NGOs and members of the NCERT faculty. The Committee is deliberating on all aspects of the school curriculum, taking into account the existing framework. The final review document will be presented to the Executive Committee of the NCERT and the Council of the General Body for discussion and approval, and ultimately to the CABE.

Following the curriculum framework, syllabi for the primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary stages are also prepared. The syllabi assume great importance, as this sets out both the content contours and topics on the basis of which the Examination Boards set questions for examinations. The syllabi are therefore more familiar documents among teachers, parents and students than the policy or the curriculum framework. There are many Boards in the country but most states have their own Examination Boards in addition to the CBSE and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Boards. Each Board prescribes its own syllabi. It may or may not adhere to the NCERT syllabi.

The textbook is a major educational tool for students. In India, textbooks occupy most of the educational space in schools. They are not just teaching manuals, they shape the minds of children in their formative years and have a profound influence on how young minds interpret reality. For this reason the content of textbooks or instructional material is a deeply contentious issue in several countries around the world. Indeed questions of curriculum and textbooks are so contested because they are at the heart of debates over national identity and over who will define and control what is worth knowing. This is probably why in a country as diverse as ours the issue of textbooks is a site of much contestation and conflicting interpretations. In one sense, the content of our textbooks is a crucial disseminator of fundamental values of citizenship, values that we need to pass on to the next generation. Thus the content of textbooks is of vital importance and has a significant impact on the educational development of students.

Types of Schools

Schools and school systems in India are a bewildering array of structure and functioning. Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) are primarily meant for children of central government officers who are posted all over India. They are affiliated to the CBSE which prescribes the syllabus and the NCERT textbooks. They function from Class I to Class XII. Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) are centrally managed and are meant for talented children from the rural areas and function from Classes VI to XII. They are also affiliated to the CBSE and use NCERT textbooks.

Private unaided schools are also affiliated to the CBSE and form a very influential group in the system. They use NCERT textbooks from Class IX onwards and function from preschool to Class XII. Private aided schools receiving aid from state governments are affiliated to the CBSE or State Boards.

Christian missionary schools are affiliated to the ICSE, CBSE and State Boards. In the past few years the International Baccalaureate has made significant inroads among elite private schools.

The majority of children study in schools run by the state government. These are affiliated to their own State Boards and use textbooks prescribed and prepared by their own state bodies, usually the State Institutes of Education or SCERTs.

Alternate schools under many names are also run under the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan). They have textbooks, workbooks, worksheets and teaching-learning materials prepared by the SSA/DPEP (District Primary Education Programme).

There are lakhs of private unrecognised primary schools all over the country, for preschool to Class V/VIII. The textbooks used in these schools are more often than not low priced, low quality kunjis or ‘guides’.

There are also small primary schools run by several social and religious organisations which are not affiliated to any agency.

Then there is the National Institute of Open Schooling which has its own Board of Examinations and prepares and prescribes its own books. State Open Schools are run along the same lines as the National Open Schools.1

Curriculum Framework, Syllabi and Textbooks

With the adoption of the 10+2 pattern as recommended by the Education Commission (1964-66), the NCERT developed supporting syllabi and textbooks to be used as models by the states and union territories. Most states excepting the newly formed ones and the union territories have their own Examination Boards, similar to the CBSE, which are known as State Boards. The respective State Directorates along with the SCERTs prepare textbooks which are then printed by the Textbook Bureaus in states at a highly subsidised price.

The most important issue is with regard to textbooks and related literature used in schools run by religious and social organisations

The NCERT has brought out three sets of syllabi so far: in 1975, 1988 and 2002. Although the NCERT frames the syllabi, it is the CBSE that prescribes syllabi which are valid for purposes of examination and certification for schools affiliated to the CBSE. State Boards prescribe the syllabi and textbooks for schools affiliated to them. However, private schools do not necessarily follow the Board-prescribed syllabi and textbooks till Class VIII.

Non-NCERT, non-CBSE-prescribed textbooks constitute the majority of textbooks in use in the country. A detailed account of institutional mechanisms in the states for textbook preparation is given in the next chapter.

There are large numbers of textbooks published by the private sector. Non-government schools are free to choose publications, including those published by the private sector. Some of the elite schools use books produced by private publishers such as Oxford University Press, Ratna Sagar and Maktaba Jamia.2 Selection of textbooks from private publishers is dependent on the school, which generally invites publishers to bring the books before a committee of teachers to decide. Many incentives are offered by publishers to schools, which could range from price cuts to a percentage of total cost of books supplied being made over to the school.3 A measure of state patronage for them can be discerned from the fact that seminars and workshops for teachers, held by state bodies, are ‘sponsored’ by these publishers.4 However, the point is that these private publishers cannot be wished away legally. Every publisher has a right to publish and if parents choose to select the textbooks for their children to read, there is not much that can be done.

The most important issue is with regard to textbooks and related literature used in schools run by religious and social organisations which have a large outreach and impact. Some schools i.e. Saraswati Shishu Mandirs,6 Ekal Vidyalayas, Pathshalas, Madrassas, etc run by respective religious and social organisations follow their own curricula and books. Some of them use this route to promote ideologies that often contradict the basic principles and vision of the Constitution and educational policies.8 There is no mechanism to regulate the content of the textbooks used by these organisations or to prevent them from publishing and distributing them. They seek recognition neither from the state nor any examining Board. The Policy of Non-Formal Education (1986) enables any organisation to run non-formal centres. If they do not receive state funds, they are not governed by the state. They continue to run their ‘centres’ with books of their choice. When children are ready, they are registered with the Open School and obtain their certification.9

Some Important Issues

As there is no state-level curriculum statement, it is presumed that the syllabi adhere to the core elements of the NCF (which is the expectation of the NCF). No serious scrutiny of the extent of adherence to the core curriculum of state syllabi has been conducted so far.

Textbooks and curricula in schools run by religious and social organisations and schools not aided by the state are not regulated in any form by state agencies. Their adherence to constitutional provisions and educational policies is an issue of major concern and this has been discussed in Chapter IV on the social content of textbooks.

______________________________________

Notes

1 Information from Note submitted by Janaki Rajan, Director, SCERT, New Delhi, to the CABE Committee.
2 Founded by Jamia Millia Islamia, the Maktaba Jamia is a private limited company with the Jamia Millia Islamia having an 80 per cent financial stake in the company.
3 Ibid.
4 Publishers also offer to underwrite seminar and other expenses of the schools. This is apart from the usual calendars, diaries, posters, stationery offered free to schools. Ibid.
6 An umbrella organisation, Vidya Bharati was founded in 1977 and at that time it ran 700 schools. In 2003 it had 14,000 schools, 73,000 teachers and 1.7 million pupils. "In 1991 Vidya Bharati claimed it was running the second largest chain of schools in the country, next only to the government schools." Information given in Christophe Jaffrelot, ed. The Sangh Parivar: A Reader, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005, p. 6 and p. 199 respectively.
8 On schools and textbooks used in Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, Ekal Vidyalayas, etc see Tanika Sarkar, ‘Educating the Children of the Hindu Rashtra: Notes on RSS Schools’ in Christophe Jaffrelot, ed. The Sangh Parivar: A Reader; Teesta Setalvad, ‘How textbooks teach prejudice’, Communalism Combat, October 1999; Teesta Setalvad, ‘Gujarat: Situating the Saffronisation of Education’ in The Saffron Agenda In Education, Sahmat, New Delhi, 2001; Nalini Taneja, ‘Communalisation of Education: Taking Stock Again’, People’s Democracy, No. 43, October 2003.
9 Janaki Rajan’s Note submitted to the CABE Subcommittee.

Archived from Communalism Combat,  April 2009 Year 15    No.139, Report of the CABE Committee, Policies, Curricula, Syllabi and Textbooks

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Textbooks have always been an integral part of the Indian school education system. As the school education programme acquired a mass character in the post-independence period, the absence of good quality textbooks began to be acutely felt. Yet the period immediately after independence saw no major effort to mass-produce textbooks. As the system expanded, the textbook industry became one of the very profitable fields for investment which also led to a proliferation of low quality, substandard and badly produced textbooks. Thus the availability of textbooks at affordable prices for the poor also became an important issue. The Education Commission (1964-66) points out that textbook writing and production did not receive the attention they deserved. The Commission also identified several factors contributing to the problem, such as the lack of interest shown by top-ranking scholars, malpractices in the selection and prescription of textbooks, unscrupulous tactics adopted by several publishers, lack of research in the preparation and production of textbooks and the almost total disregard of the need for bringing out ancillary books such as teachers’ guides and supplementary material. It is in this context that many state governments took over the production of textbooks.¹

The establishment of the Central Bureau of Textbook Research in 1954 and its subsequent merger into the NCERT in 1961 gave a new direction to textbook development and production. The NCERT launched a comprehensive programme of textbook production from the late 1960s. The National Board of School Textbooks in its first meeting in 1969 suggested that the NCERT should work out a general framework in the form of principles and criteria for preparing textbooks for different school subjects by actively involving state authorities, subject specialists, teachers and other educators.

Emergence of State Agencies: NCERT, SCERTs and Textbook Bureaus

Efforts to institutionalise textbook preparation and production began with state production of textbooks in the post-independence period. Uttar Pradesh, for instance, was one of the first states to do so. The State Institutes of Education (SIEs) and State Institutes of Science Education in the mid-1960s took up this task. Both structures were integrally part of the State Directorates of Education. The NCERT had also begun preparing textbooks at the national level. Particularly with respect to social sciences, the writing of history became tied to the elaboration of the nationalist project to build a democratic, liberal, socialist, humanistic vision. Moved by the optimism of the age and the urge to provide the children of new India with a history of India’s past, many reputed academics were invited to write textbooks when the NCERT was set up in the mid-1960s.

During this time, state governments, faced with the task of providing textbooks in schools which then were predominantly government-run, established Textbook Bureaus and State Boards of Examination. While the Textbook Bureaus focused on the printing and distribution of textbooks and the Boards had the task of prescribing syllabi and conducting examinations, the states used several methods for the actual preparation of textual materials.

A few state governments established Textbook Corporations for the production of textbooks. In most states, the function of textbook preparation, particularly for primary and upper primary classes, was taken over by SCERTs which subsumed the SIEs organisationally as well as functionally. For instance, the Maharashtra government combined the task of textbook production and related research by the creation of the Maharashtra State Board of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research. Based on the recommendations of the NPE 1986 to decentralise curricula and textbook writing, states began to establish SCERTs, either closing down the older SIEs or amalgamating them with the SCERTs. However, there existed a tension with regard to their functioning. While states were prepared to allow the SCERTs to prescribe the function of textbook preparation for primary and upper primary classes, they were reluctant to hand over a similar role to the SCERTs in respect of secondary education.

Textbook preparation at the secondary level was assigned either to the wholly state-controlled Board of Education or the state’s Directorate of Education. However, neither structure had the professional wherewithal to undertake the academic task of textbook writing, the former being an examining body and the latter an administrative one. They relied upon ‘established’ academics chosen by a committee constituted to choose writers. In effect, textbook preparation was left to the discretion of handpicked academics. This is not to give the impression that in contrast to the situation as regards secondary education all was well with regard to primary and middle schools. This does not imply that the tasks, even for primary and middle sections, were fully streamlined and that all the SCERTs carried them out systematically. For one, some of the SCERTs, as in case of the north-eastern states, came into existence much later and the responsibility for textbook preparation and production in some of them is still quite fluid.

There is hardly any regulation or regulatory mechanism for the textbooks and textual materials used in schools outside the government system
 

The textbooks for the secondary and higher secondary stages are generally adopted from the NCERT in most of the states. Textbooks at the secondary stage are not prepared in Delhi, as all schools are affiliated to the CBSE. CBSE-prescribed textbooks are used at the higher secondary/PUC stage in Delhi. The Himachal Pradesh Board does not prepare textbooks for Classes XI and XII; instead, books of the NCERT are recommended in the schools. In Haryana also, textbooks published by the NCERT have been introduced in the state at the secondary and higher secondary/PUC stage. In Orissa, at the secondary stage (for Classes VIII, IX and X) the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa – which is an autonomous organisation – prepares textbooks. At higher secondary education (for Classes XI and XII) the State Bureau of Textbook Preparation and Publication, Bhubaneswar, is responsible for preparing textbooks. But, as already mentioned, very few states directly intervene in private unaided schools with regard to the nature of teaching-learning material and books being used. Once recognition is given to such private self-financing schools, public examinations are the only link between the schools and the state government authorities.²

The role of the NCERT as a textbook producer at the central level has expanded enormously with the publication of NCFs and the collaborative arrangement between the CBSE and NCERT.

With the huge expansion of the private unaided sector at both the elementary and secondary levels, divergence in the use of textbooks by government and private schools has acquired considerable importance as described in the ensuing sections. Given this diversity of textbooks in all types of schools, what goes into the textbooks is a matter of national importance and merits the highest attention.

Textbook Preparation Mechanisms for Schools in the Government System in the States

What processes do the SCERTs/other agencies adopt in preparing textbooks? If private publishers are involved, how are the books approved and prescribed by the state government bodies? Are private schools free to use any textbook? The CABE Subcommittee explored these questions with state agencies through quick questionnaire-based surveys. Eighteen states responded. In addition, the Subcommittee studied the responses to questionnaires sent out by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA).3 The Committee has also looked into the state studies series undertaken by the NIEPA between 1994 and 2004.

Based on these studies plus information available from state reports commissioned by the Committee, state mechanisms can be broadly categorised as:

1. States which relied on the NCERT textbooks and de facto accepted the presumed institutional mechanisms of the central agency to approve textbooks. Examples are Arunachal Pradesh and the union territories.

2. States which permit textbook preparation up to Class VIII by the centrally funded and controlled DPEP/SSA and, for the secondary stage, use their own State Boards. In Himachal Pradesh, textbooks are prepared by DPEP/SSA and printed by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education. In Orissa, the responsibility for preparing the textbooks for different streams of education rests with the different organisations/institutions of the state. At the elementary stage the Directorate of Teacher Education and SCERT and the Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA), Bhubaneswar, prepare textbooks.

3. States which took on the responsibility of preparing their own textbooks but entrusted this task to their own, wholly controlled state agencies. States like Karnataka and Gujarat have the Directorate of Textbooks which is a wing of the SCERT. The SCERT itself is very strongly state-controlled. In Mizoram and West Bengal, the Board of School Education prepares the textbooks for the elementary stage. In Mizoram, the Mizoram Board of School Education Act l975 empowers the Board to prescribe, prepare, publish and select textbooks for the various examinations conducted by the Board. Under the Board, the Statutory Committee of the Mizoram Board of School Education selects textbook writers and editors for textbook and syllabus preparation. In Gujarat, the Gujarat School Textbook Board is the regulatory authority. The GCERT only provides technical support to the Textbook Development Board which is fully responsible for the preparation, publication and distribution of textbooks. In Madhya Pradesh, for example, the SCERT prepares the textbooks and their printing, publication and distribution is done entirely by the Madhya Pradesh State Textbook Corporation.

4. Among the states which permit SCERTs to prepare textbooks up to Class VIII, which rely on the CBSE/NCERT for the secondary stage, are Delhi, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and, of course, the union territories. In Haryana, the Board of School Education assigns the work of material development to the SCERT which in turn accomplishes the work by organising workshops with schoolteachers and subject experts and subject specialists working in the SCERT. While the SCERT produces/develops textbooks for primary classes (I to V), for Classes VI to VIII, textbooks published by the NCERT have been adopted by the state. In Delhi, teams comprising senior university teachers, professionals from the NGO sector, college teachers, SCERT and DIET (District Institute of Education and Training) teacher educators and schoolteachers prepare the textbooks in a collaborative mode for Classes I to VIII. In Rajasthan, textbooks for Classes I to VIII are prepared by the SCERT, approved by the state government and published by the Textbook Board. Before publication, computerised manuscripts of all textbooks in the form of hard copy are presented to the Secretary (Education) and to the Education Minister for approval. Similarly, in the schools run by the state government or recognised and aided by the state government of Uttar Pradesh, it is compulsory to use only those textbooks which are approved by the Uttar Pradesh Basic Shiksha Parishad and Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad. But the two Boards (Parishads) of the state government sometimes only approve a panel of authors and not the precise books and the schools are free to choose books written by any of the empanelled authors. From Class IX to XII this practice is quite often followed.

Institutional structures and mechanisms, including legislative measures, exist in several states. In Orissa, legislative measures have recently been taken for the adoption of a language textbook (Oriya) in English medium schools affiliated to the ICSE and CBSE. In Madhya Pradesh, the state government has formulated an Act, the Madhya Pradesh Prathamik Tatha Madhyamik Shiksha (Pathya Pustakon Sambandhi Vyavastha) Adhiniyam 1973 and 1974, which approves the textbooks of the state. These approved books are to be adopted essentially by government primary and upper primary schools.4

While in most cases textbooks are printed in state government establishments, some states use private facilities also for the purpose. In Karnataka, the Directorate of Textbooks as a wing of the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) prepares all the textbooks for Classes I to X. After preparation, 60 per cent of the textbooks are given for printing to the government press and 40 per cent are printed by private printers/publishers. Management of printing and publication is an important issue, as it involves large amounts of investment and substantial profit-making wherever private publishers are involved.

Gujarat follows a three-tier try-out system in three phases before introducing textbooks. Try-out: Phase I involves try-out in 400 randomly selected primary schools; Try-out: Phase II involves try-out in selected schools of low literacy rate districts; and Phase III involves implementation of the modified textbooks all over the state. In West Bengal also, a periodic try-out process is adopted before finalisation of the manuscripts. In Mizoram, the Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) as a first step examines the curriculum and syllabi of other Boards and the NCERT and formulates a suitable curriculum and syllabi for Mizoram state. Editors are also appointed to edit the textbooks written by local experts. The Mizoram Board of School Education regulates textbook publication through private publishers. The State Board prints all the textbooks, as the Board is empowered by the Mizoram Board of School Education Act 1975, passed by the Mizoram Legislative Assembly.

In Karnataka, Textbook Committees are formed for every subject/class, consisting of subject experts and classroom teachers. The manuscripts prepared are scrutinised by another group of experts and introduced for one year in selected blocks of the state. The textbooks are again revised, based on the feedback, and introduced in the entire state.

The Madhya Pradesh State Board-affiliated schools, both government and private, are all supposed to use only the books produced by the State Government Education Department i.e. developed by the Madhya Pradesh SCERT and printed by the Madhya Pradesh State Textbook Corporation. The Madhya Pradesh Textbook Act mandates this. Even the books or magazines provided to the libraries are supposed to be approved by the state government. The mechanism of textbook writing is done in a workshop mode. Resource persons for these workshops are identified from various fields of education – schoolteachers, subject experts, persons from Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs), DIETs, Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs), Institutes of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs) and retired persons. A Textbook Standing Committee approves the textbooks and the state government notifies the approved textbooks.

In Bihar, the institutional mechanisms for regulating school education are fully in place but there is a total lack of coordination between agencies entrusted with the preparation and publication of textbooks in Bihar. This is largely because of the failure of the SCERT to carry out its responsibility with regard to the production of textbooks owing to an absence of coordination between the different organisations involved in the supervision and preparation of books. They are neither well organised nor adequately prepared to carry out this work. The inefficiency of government departments has led directly to the emergence of parallel textbook centres in the state, weakening the existing institutions to a point where there is hardly any publication of textbooks by government institutions and the textbooks which are published do not reach the student. As a result, the responsibility for production of books has gone out of the hands of the government. For all practical purposes the production and distribution of textbooks is happening outside the state structures. Even though they are supposed to use textbooks produced by the government, the private schools are not doing so because government agencies have not been able to cater to the huge requirement of textbooks for schools in Bihar. Shortages and delays in production have thus legitimised the production of textbooks by private organisations. There is very little attempt to remedy the complete mismanagement in the preparation and production of textbooks, in the political as well as administrative spheres.⁵

The free space permitted in the system is often abused for partisan purposes by sectarian organisations and schools affiliated to them

Very few states approve textbooks written and produced by other individuals or organisations. Even in the states where such a provision exists, it is done only after the books are examined first by a group of experts in a workshop and the opinion is taken to the state-level Textbook and Syllabus Committee for final perusal and approval. It is only in the states of Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh that private unaided schools are free to adopt textbooks of their choice though there is no particular procedure for regulating the adoption of books. In all other states, the schools have to adopt the state-approved textbooks. But to some extent this prescription is only notional, as it is linked to the syllabus prescribed for the final board examination. Beyond the use of the state-prescribed textbooks, private unaided schools are free to adopt additional or supplementary books.

Mechanisms for Textbooks Used by Schools Outside the Government System

The non-government schools are of a wide variety. Some are run by private managements which have a chain of schools. These chains are sometimes citywide or statewide and sometimes countrywide. Besides, there are schools run by various religious and social organisations. Some schools are run by Christian missionary groups of different denominations. Then there are madrassas run by different Muslim councils or groups and there are Saraswati Shishu Mandirs run by Vidya Bharati, the education wing of the RSS. This variety is made even more complex by those chains of schools which focus on a particular language or subject, like Sanskrit Pathshalas. The method of selecting textbooks in these schools is as varied as their management. Those schools which fall under any council or board or trust choose books as per the directions of the latter. But these councils/boards/trusts do not have a uniform method. Some of them prescribe specific books for various subjects whereas some others just adopt the government-approved books and yet some others choose a combination of the two, that is, they adopt government-approved books for some subjects but for other subjects they prescribe specific books of their choice. Some boards/councils do not prescribe to schools any specific books but give them a syllabus or curriculum framework in the form of guidelines and the school principals, in consultation with teachers, decide upon the prescription of textbooks for their respective schools. There are several chains of schools run by private trusts which adopt government-approved books. Vidya Bharati/Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, Darul Uloom Deoband, Nadwatul Ulama, etc not only prescribe specific books for their schools, they also publish them. The Deeni Taleemi Council prescribes and publishes some specific books, mainly for religious education, but for the other subjects it prescribes the books approved by the Uttar Pradesh Basic Shiksha Parishad and Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad. The Council of Anglo-Indian Schools provides a curriculum and leaves the choice of textbooks to the schools supported by it.

There is hardly any regulation or regulatory mechanism for the textbooks and textual materials used in schools outside the government system.6

In all the states except Gujarat, non-government schools have private publishers providing teaching and learning aids for teachers and students. There is a flourishing private industry that thrives on the prescribed textbooks of the centre and state. Textbooks prepared by private publishers range all the way from being shadow books of the NCERT/states’ books to kunjis, workbooks and guidebooks. Private publishers visit the schools with their books, teachers judge the books and on the basis of consensus books are selected. Private publishers informally visit the faculty members and inform them about the books, place specimen copies before them and request them to suggest books to the students. Students generally for examination purposes purchase these books.7

In actual practice, many private schools use books published by private agencies either as supplementary materials or even as substitutes. These books have not gone through any process of government approval. Many schools use private books along with the state government textbooks, others use them as substitutes while still others use private publishers’ books only where government textbooks are not available for that particular subject at that level – for example, Environmental Studies for Classes I and II or Moral Science, General Knowledge, Drawing, etc.

Supplementary workbooks and kunjis are freely available as are dictionaries, question banks, answer banks, guess papers printed by a host of publishers from Nai Sadak which has emerged as a parallel textbook centre. These kunjis/supplementary workbooks are available on sale for each of these books, which may or may not be prescribed by the school but publishers market these through the tuition routes.8 Teachers are also known to unofficially nudge children towards a particular set of kunjis. Some of these books are at least twice as expensive as the government textbooks. There is a flourishing market for kunjis in the states as well. These are generally of poor quality, unregulated and expensive. In Maharashtra, for instance, while the prescribed social sciences textbooks in History, Geography and Civics separately are priced between Rs 10-12 each, the kunjis cost Rs 30-40 each. The majority of children buy both. This publishing usually begins from Class VI but of late there are kunjis from Class IV.

Some schools run by religious and social organisations, such as Vidya Bharati schools, are affiliated to the CBSE or their local State Boards. For instance, in Rajasthan, the school authorities say that they recommend NCERT or SCERT books to the students. Value education books are written by some of the authors who have been identified by the parental organisations of the schools, like the DAV College Management Committee, Delhi, Bharatiya Vidya Samiti, Rajasthan, Vidya Bharati Sanskriti Shiksha Sansthan and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai. School authorities also argue that [the selection of] books of private publishers which they suggest or recommend to the students is based upon decisions taken by faculty members.

There are a large number of madrassas all over India. At present there are official Boards of Madrassa Education in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. A large number of madrassas come within their jurisdiction and subsist on government funds. But in the rest of the country, they are being run on private charity. The NCERT has no provision for a Board administering the curriculum of madrassas in India. State governments like Uttar Pradesh do appoint such Boards but Delhi, for instance, does not.9

Delhi contains around 40 madrassas, of which a handful, like Rabiya Madrassa, is open to girls.10 There are two types of madrassas, those that follow the NCERT syllabus (Urdu medium) and those teaching only manqulat (religious education).

Madrassas following the NCERT syllabus have to teach with translations of English textbooks.11 Those teaching religious education follow a curriculum dating back to the 18th century. It includes the Koran, Fiqh (Jurisprudence), Sarf and Nahw (Arabic Literature and Grammar) and Tarikh (History from the Prophet to Khilafat-e-Rashida, 610-661 CE). As the qualifications provided by these madrassas are not recognised elsewhere, they prepare students only to become teachers themselves in these schools or to become imams, muezzins, khatibs, kazis and muftis.12

Some Important Issues

It is important to recognise that the states have come a long way in improving the practices related to printing and production of textbooks. But there is no proper direction in the policies and practices related to preparation and use of textbooks in schools. All the states have established mechanisms for the selection, publication and approval of textual materials. But the mechanisms and processes vary from state to state. It is a mixed picture with regard to which body will approve the textbooks. Almost every state has, through legislation, created state agencies/bodies for syllabus preparation and textbooks.

What is important to note is that these processes and mechanisms are all rather mechanically followed by the state agencies without much regard for the substance and content of textbooks. What is of real concern is that there is no way of assessing whether the textbooks actually adhere to the aims of education policy. Also, there appears to be very little application of mind with regard to the selection of material. The State Boards or SCERTs appoint expert committees to prepare the curriculum. The processes are all in place but the content is not of good quality or even always agreeable. This is partly because of the overwhelming emphasis on form with very little attention being devoted to content of textbooks and supplementary materials.

Another disturbing fact is that the free space permitted in the system is often abused for partisan purposes by sectarian organisations and schools affiliated to them. Such organisations exploit the fact of the palpable lack of critical scrutiny of the substance to smuggle in textual materials that dangerously undermine the aims of education and even vitiate the constitutional framework.

It appears necessary to issue a set of national guidelines to ensure that the core reading and learning material made available to children and teachers in schools scrupulously conform to constitutional values and educational policies and ideals. However, it must continue to be the responsibility of state governments to ensure that they are not flouted by cultural and social organisations which have established their schools and use privately published books within the state or by private educational establishments. n

______________________________________

Notes

1 This section on institutional arrangements and regulatory mechanisms has gained much from a Note prepared by R. Govinda and Mona Sedwal, ‘Preparation, Production and Prescription of Textbooks for School Education in India’, NIEPA.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Bihar Report.
6 Some of this information is based on responses of SCERTs, SIEs, SIETs (State Institutes of Educational Technology) to the questionnaire sent by the CABE Subcommittee to elicit information on regulatory mechanisms in the states, 2005.
7 Information from Janaki Rajan’s Note submitted to the CABE Committee.
8 Ibid.
9 Report on Delhi Madrassas.10 Ibid, p. 2. 11 Ibid, p. 6. 12 Ibid.

Archived from Communalism Combat,  April 2009 Year 15    No.139, Report of the CABE Committee, Institutional Mechanisms for Preparation of  Textbooks in the States

The post Chapter III – Institutional Mechanisms for Preparation of Textbooks in the States appeared first on SabrangIndia.

1.1 The state has a duty to provide a meaningful quality education for all as part of its duty to provide school education for all, as part of the latter’s fundamental right. It is obvious that textbooks are a fulcrum of any system which seeks to provide quality education. We have now an enormous variety of textbooks in the country and the content analysis undertaken for this report shows that there are many problems with textbooks in use in different types of schools. The provision of textbooks in our country is largely governed by a laissez-faire approach. While the plurality in the textbooks and textual materials so produced is and can be fruitful, it is important that these textbooks have to be informed by the philosophy of liberal, secular and democratic education. They need to keep the Constitution and its provisions in view. It is important that textbooks and textual materials are written and produced within this framework and the country must be satisfied that these processes are transparent.

1.2 There is an urgent need to set up an institutional facility to keep an eye on textbooks. Research on textbooks is an essential feature of a healthy education system but in the context of the challenges we face, research must take the form of inquiry into specific problems relating to the quality of textbooks and the values they convey. An institutional structure to perform this task needs to be independent of any organisation which is involved in textbook preparation. This would imply that the institutional facility we are recommending for exercising vigilance on textbooks cannot be associated with the NCERT at the national level and SCERTs at the state level. The NCERT is a major player in the textbook industry and is likely to remain involved in it in the foreseeable future. Therefore, while the NCERT’s and SCERT’s role as a research organisation must extend to research on textbooks, independent institutional structures need to be set up to exercise vigilance on textbooks published by both government organisations as well as by others. The structure can be called the National Textbook Council. The state governments may be encouraged to set up their own State Textbook Councils. Both the National Textbook Council and State Textbook Council should be fully autonomous and representing genuine voices in civil society and the academia so that the monitoring of textbooks can be performed with intellectual rigour, sensitivity and commitment to constitutional values. The primary role of these Councils would be to review the contents of textbooks to ensure compliance with the constitutional values and national policies on education. The National Textbook Council may devise its own procedures for review. Given the fact that ordinary citizens do not have a forum where they can complain about the content and quality of textbooks, even though their own children are involved, these Councils may especially respond to complaints received from the public about the quality and value perspective of school textbooks by conducting specific inquiries.

2.1 The CABE may set up a Standing Committee. The Standing Committee will inform the CABE from time to time about textbook-related matters and seek guidance from the National Textbook Council. The Committee will from time to time review and examine standards and relevance of textual materials for the educational enterprise and assess the social content of textbooks and textual materials and examine whether they are consistent with the vision of the Constitution and the values of the national policy on education and in terms appropriate for children at different stages of development. It will submit its report to the government and this should be made public.

2.2 It is extremely important that the principle of periodic review of textual materials be accepted and review undertaken on a regular basis. The CABE Standing Committee can decide the periodicity of such reviews.

2.3 Guidelines should be laid down for the periodic review of textual materials of all kinds so that textbooks are consistent with the secular fabric of Indian governance. The Standing Committee would be empowered to prepare the guidelines and outline the parameters for review. It is important that the criteria for approval of textual materials must include a proper analysis of content to assess its adherence to the core principles before the textbooks are approved and prescribed. This will need to be conducted by academic experts who can judge departures from core principles of egalitarianism, democracy, secularism and removal of social barriers, which define the national endeavour of education for all and nation building. These guidelines must be strictly adhered to.

2.4 The Standing Committee should make these periodic reviews and reports public. This should be widely publicised through the media and other means to increase public awareness of the social content of textbooks and the importance of using textual materials that are in keeping with the values and spirit of egalitarianism, secularism and democracy.

2.5 The review process must be initiated without inconveniencing parents and children and be completed within six months of the beginning of the new academic session.

3.1 It is a matter of concern that the NCERT and SCERT have so far not taken up research on textbooks as a major area of research and this needs to be strengthened. The NCERT and SCERTs can be asked to set up units dedicated to research on textbook preparation and evaluation. Academic autonomy required for undertaking this function in an objective manner should be provided to the NCERT and SCERTs.

3.2 Adequate funding must be made available to concerned agencies for engaging in research on social content of textbooks. Adequate staff must be provided so that it could function in conjunction with and provide support to the CABE Standing Committee for Curricular Review. The MHRD, State Education Departments and State Directorates of Education should earmark funds for this purpose and all institutions of higher learning should support research in school textbooks.

Archived from Communalism Combat,  April 2009 Year 15    No.139, Report of the CABE Committee, Recommendations on Regulatory Mechanisms for Textbooks and Parallel Textbooks

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Archived from Communalism Combat,  April 2009 Year 15    No.139, Ekal Vidyalaya Way,  Training to Hate: The Ekal Vidyalaya Way

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