The Karnataka school education department has hinted that the government textbooks are unlikely to be revised as per the new guidelines. Sources in the school education department have said that only the controversial chapters introduced by the BJP government will be dropped for the current academic year.
In a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, former textbook revision committee head Baraguru Ramachandrappa suggested that a full revision of textbooks, especially of the Kannada and social science subjects, was not a “practical and viable” option for now. He also suggested that only the controversial lessons be replaced with new ones. Supposedly, a circular, detailing clarifications and chapter replacements, will be distributed among schools for the current academic year.
Ramachandrappa said, “I have suggested the government remove controversial chapters and not go for a full textbook revision at this point. Revising the full textbook is not viable and practical. It is a time-consuming process. Instead, the government can identify the controversial lessons and drop them from the academic year. Such lessons should not be considered for examination purposes.”
He also suggested that the government can refer to the revisions done by previous textbook revision committees. “The government need not form any separate committee. They can replace the controversial chapters with chapters included by previous textbook revision committee heads. The dropped and replaced chapters can be specified in a circular and distributed across the schools. The teachers will thus know what to teach and what to drop,” he added.
Ramachandrappa was speculated to be appointed as Head of the textbook revision committee again. However, he said, “I was only consulted by the government on how to go about revising the textbooks. I have shared my views with the chief minister and he seemed to concur with my suggestions. Moreover, I don’t have any interest in taking up the role of the textbook revision committee head. Let other people also get a chance to take responsibility.”
