The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has dropped the Preamble to the Constitution from several Class 3 and 6 textbooks issued this year.
For Class 6, in the newly published versions of the textbooks following the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Preamble is printed in the Science book, Curiosity, and the Hindi book, Malhar. However, in the Social Science book, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, the Preamble has not been published. The book mentions the fundamental rights and fundamental duties of citizens.
In Class 3, new textbooks for Hindi, English, Mathematics and ‘World Around Us’(which replaces Environmental Studies or EVS) do not have the Preamble. The old EVS book, Looking Around, and the Hindi book, Rimjhim 3, carried the Preamble.
In the old textbooks for Class 6, the Preamble was printed in the the English book Honey Suckle, the Science book, Hindi textbook Durva, and all three Social Science books — Our Pasts-I, Social and Political Life-I, and The Earth Our Habitat.
The new English textbook, Poorvi, has the national anthem, while the Sanskrit textbook, Deepakam, has both the national anthem and the national song, but not the Preamble. The earlier Sanskrit book, Ruchira, also did not have the Preamble.
“The allegations regarding the removal of the Preamble from the NCERT textbooks do not have a sound basis,” Professor Ranjana Arora, Head of the Department of Curriculum Studies and Development at NCERT, said.
“For the first time, NCERT is giving great importance to various facets of the Indian Constitution — Preamble, fundamental duties, fundamental rights, and the National Anthem. All these are being placed in various textbooks of various stages,” she said.
“The understanding that only the Preamble reflects the Constitution and Constitutional values is flawed and narrow. Why should children not acquire Constitutional values from the fundamental duties, fundamental rights, and the National Anthem, along with the Preamble? We give equal importance to all of these for the holistic development of children following the vision of NEP 2020,” Professor Arora said.
