Gujarat, where inclusion of Dinanath Batra’s books as supplementary reading in schools has attracted much criticism, is not new to controversy over textbooks. The State has a long history of treating textbooks as a medium for advancing the Hindutva agenda, experts say.
“Over the years, textbooks have been preaching about and promoting religious leaders. What are Indian values? Constitutional values should be Indian values, but people do not understand it. Every academic seminar or conference is inaugurated by a religious head. Even textbook writers, who are teachers and professors, are influenced by the Hindutva ideology,” Gaurang Jani, sociologist and convener of sociology textbooks for Classes 11 and 12, told The Hindu .
The English language textbook of Class 7 has a chapter on health and nutrition, which includes a story on “Lord Shiva’s advice on good health”. Social science textbooks have been the key purveyors of such indirect introduction of religion.
Media reports have pointed to the lopsided teaching of history — in one textbook, 350 years of the Mughal rule has been dealt with in one paragraph. While Gujarat textbooks have been notorious for howlers, which remain uncorrected till date, the State government went one step ahead in 2004 praising Hitler, calling him a nationalist and socialist in the Class 9 Social Science textbook.Cedric Prakash, a human rights activist and a Jesuit priest here, filed a public interest litigation petition in the court against errors. While the petition was dismissed, the Gujarat government decided to drop the chapter on Hitler.
The idea that Indian values need to be upheld against the influence of Western culture broadly guides the textbook writing process, Mr. Jani said.
