The NCERT is reviewing the textbooks after the introduction of the National Education Policy in 2020.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has come under fire for dropping the Preamble to the Constitution from Class III and VI textbooks.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the NCERT, which supervises the publication of textbooks for all classes, is reviewing them after the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) by the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP) government in 2020. This year, new books have been issued for Class III and VI, also keeping the new National Curriculum Framework in mind.
In the old textbooks for Class VI, the Preamble was printed on one of the first few pages of the Hindi textbook Durva, the English book Honey Suckle, the science book and all three EVS books — Our Pasts-I, Social and Political Life-I and The Earth Our Habitat.
In the news books, the Preamble is printed only in the science book, Curiosity, and the Hindi book Malhar. The environment book, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, does not have the Preamble, but mentions the fundamental rights and fundamental duties. The new book for mathematics is not available yet.
The new English textbook, Poorvi, has the national anthem, while the Sanskrit text, Deepakam, has both the national anthem and the national song, but not the Preamble. The earlier Sanskrit book, Ruchira, did not have the Preamble, either.
In Class III, none of the new textbooks for Hindi, English, mathematics and World Around Us (which replaces EVS) has printed the Preamble.
The move has come under fire from the Congress party, journalists and activists slamming the Central government.
Congress spokesperson Dr. Shama Mohammed said that the Central government has launched an assault to destroy the Constitution.
“The Preamble to the Constitution has been dropped from several Class III and Class VI textbooks issued by the NCERT this year. The BJP govt has launched a full-scale assault to destroy India’s constitution. All parents must come together & object to this blatant attempt to erase our history,” said Mohammed.
Noted journalist Rajdeep Sardesai also questioned the rationale behind removing the Preamble.
“Preamble to the Constitution dropped from several Class III and VI textbooks. What kind of ‘new’ India young are we educating? And what would Ambedkar and our constitution makers have to say on this?” he said.
Congress MP Prof Varsha Eknath Gaikwad said that the current government has always had an issue with the constitution but “we will not let them dilute it.”
“We have been saying for a while now that this government has an issue with the Constitution and the democratic values in the Constitution. The Preamble is the key to the Constitution and it has been a tradition to print it in the first few pages of textbooks. Removing the Preamble from the books only means one thing – they do not want children to know about our democratic values. We will not let them dilute the values of our country,” said Gaikwad.