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HRD minister rubbishes textbook cleansing allegations
HRD minister, Smriti Irani declared textbook cleansing allegations to be factually incorrect. In fact, she declared inclusions of western intellectuals in social sciences and language sections, including a poem by Robert Frost. She declared that states are free to choose their curriculum and have no
The government on Thursday denied that the names of famous western intellectuals like Nicolaus Copernicus and Pythagoras had been removed from school textbooks, labelling these reports as "factually incorrect". It also rubbished claims that there was a proposal under consideration for "removing" foreign influences from the textbooks.
In a written reply HRD minister Smriti Irani stated, "There were newspaper reports in February 2016 about new Rajasthan textbooks having dropped western writers. However, the state government has denied this and stated that on the contrary, there are certain chapters where the western intellectuals are introduced in new textbooks," Replying to supplementary queries, she said the reports are "factually incorrect".
"This is an answer I have based on communication from the state government. Let me categorically state that the subjects like mathematics and science are universal in nature. And to say that Thomas Edison can be divorced from subject like this would be a great anomaly," she said.
She further said that in areas like social sciences, absence of references to historians and intellectuals like Megasthenes and Copernicus will simply rob our students the chance to learn the social relevance of their work.
"Infact, for Class VIII standard English book, we do have, according to Rajasthan government, even the extracts from Robert Frost's poem 'Stopping by the woods'," she added.
Answering Ritabrata Banerjee’s (CPM) query whether the government has excluded Pythagorean Theorem from mathematics textbooks, Irani quipped: "I recognize that the learned friend has political compulsions to reiterate a falsification."
"I have said this in my answer that mathematics cannot be devoid of theorems like Pythagoras theorem. …I am reiterating that the theorem cannot be divorced from teaching of mathematics from any classroom, let alone the state of Rajasthan," she added.
Anil Kumar Sahani of JD(U) asked if names of gurus has been taken out, to which Irani said the state governments have the liberty to decide their curriculum.
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