NCERT Consulted 25 External Experts And 16 CBSE Teachers For Rationalization Of Syllabus: Education Ministry

The NCERT consulted 25 external experts and 16 CBSE teachers in its effort to rationalize the syllabus.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) consulted with 25 external experts and 16 CBSE teachers for syllabus rationalisation. This exercise resulted in portions on the Mughals, Mahatma Gandhi, his assassin Nathuram Godse, references to Hindu extremists, and the 2002 Gujarat riots being dropped from school textbooks, according to the Ministry of Education, as reported by PTI. The decision to remove these topics and portions from the NCERT textbooks has sparked controversy, with opposition parties accusing the government of "whitewashing with vengeance."

The controversy surrounding the syllabus rationalisation exercise is due to the fact that some controversial deletions from the NCERT textbooks were not explicitly mentioned in the notification that announced the changes. This has led to allegations that the deletions were made surreptitiously, and without transparency. This lack of clarity around the deletions has fueled the controversy further.

The NCERT has acknowledged that the controversial deletions from the syllabus may have been an oversight, but it has refused to reverse the changes. The NCERT has maintained that the deletions were made based on the recommendations of experts and that the textbooks will be revised again in 2024 as part of the National Curriculum Framework.

"Aside from NCERT in-house experts, NCERT sought the expertise of subject experts from Universities/Organisations and practising teachers in all its activities related to Research, Development, Training and Extension for wider consultation," the ministry had said in response to a written question in Lok Sabha.

The removal of certain portions from history and political science textbooks, which has sparked controversy, was made after consulting five external experts for history and two external experts for political science by the NCERT.

"One round of consultation each was held with the experts, " the Ministry had said in its response. For History, the five experts who were consulted are Umesh Kadam, a professor of History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a member secretary at the Indian Council for Historical Research, Hindu College associate professor (History) Dr Archana Verma, Delhi Public School (RK Puram) teachers (Head of Department of History) Shruti Mishra, and two Delhi-based Kendriya Vidyalaya teachers Krishna Ranjan and Sunil Kumar.

The NCERT consulted four experts for two rounds in relation to the political science textbook. The experts consulted were Vanthangpui Khobung, an assistant professor of political science at the NCERT’s Regional Institute of Education in Bhopal, Maneesha Pandey, who teaches the subject at Hindu College, and school teachers Kavita Jain and Sunita Kathuria.

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