The revision of school textbooks is in the final stage and the Textbook Revision Committee headed by Prof. Manjunatha G. Hegade will submit its final report by January-end. The committee will hold its final meeting in the second week of January and submit its report by end-of-month.
The government has tasked the committee to revise school textbooks for one academic year 2024-25, following which new curriculum framework and textbooks will be drafted under the Karnataka State Education Policy, also being drafted now.
“Since the government has already abandoned controversial texts including during the previous revision and asked teachers not to teach these lessons. The government has also substituted them with other lessons. We haven’t made any major changes to the textbooks. We have only added a few lessons and deleted some based on the curriculum, quantum of study material among other criteria. We have added a few classic poetry as supplementary reading and linked Kannada language lessons and grammar lessons in the textbook,” said Prof. Hegade. He further said that there were several grammatical errors in the textbooks and it took 15 days just to correct these errors.
The Textbook Revision Committee also roped in 15 teachers presently teaching children in the state’s schools and consulted them on all revisions and changes made. “No decision was taken unilaterally except by consensus of subject experts. Even the government did not give us any suggestions during the process,” Prof. Hegade said.
“The textbooks have been revised so as to reduce the burden of students to facilitate joyful learning. During the revision we have taken care not to impose any ideologies on the children. Hence, the revised texts will be student friendly and learner friendly,” Prof. Hegade said.
“Two textbooks not required”
The Textbook Revision Committee has opined that the recent announcement by the state government on dividing annual textbooks into two, to reduce the weight of school bags was “unnecessary”. “The weight of textbooks is well within the prescribed norms for weight of school bags. However, the weight of school bags go beyond the prescribed limits due to private schools prescribing extra books. We will revise the textbooks as one book. The government can split them into two if it is keen on the proposal,” Prof. Hegade said.
