Frontline

April  2000
Good News



Believe in the miracle

For all of us who at times get depressed by the way the saffron brigade continues to swallow secular democratic space, here’s one round to us.

So cheers!

As an interim result of a campaign that we are happy to have played some part in initiating and pursuing, the Gujarat government has conceded, in writing, to the standing committee of MPs under the human resources development (HRD) ministry that there are "major mistakes" in many social studies textbooks taught in schools in Gujarat and that there is an "urgent need for revision".

As we go to press, The Times of India (April 5) reports that in response to pointed queries raised by the parliamentary standing committee of the HRD ministry, the Gujarat government has admitted that:

  • Nazism and Fascism shouldn’t have been glorified (Standard X social studies textbook). "We agree that there should be a clear-cut condemnation of Mussolini and Hitler, which is simply not there".

  • The labelling of Muslims, Christians and Parsis as "foreigners" (Standard IX social studies textbook) is a "mistake" which happened while "translating the basic book in Gujarati into English".

  • Interestingly, "highly-placed" officials from Gujarat also told The Times of India: "We entirely agree that there are major mistakes in not just these textbooks but also in others"; "The social studies textbooks of ninth and tenth standards, on whose basis the saffronisation charge has been levelled (by members of the parliamentary standing committee of the HRD ministry), were prepared in 1992 and 1993 respectively" (when the Congress party was in power).

So, while hotly denying the "saffronisation" charge (blame the Congress), the state government has admitted the mistakes and given the assurance that necessary corrections will be made "when we start preparing new textbooks".

Does this mean that until the new textbooks are ready, because of the ‘mistaken glorification’ and the ‘mistake in translation’, school children in Gujarat will continue to learn from their textbooks that Hitler and Mussolini were great leaders, and that the Muslims, Christians and Parsis of India are "foreigners"? While this remains a serious concern, the significance of the ‘miracle’ in Gujarat should not be underestimated.

This month’s cover story should be a grim reminder to all of us about what it means to say that Gujarat is the ‘laboratory of Hindutva’, a ‘Hindu Rashtra in one state’. And the HRD ministry is headed by none less than Murli Manohar Joshi, who is doing everything he can to pack the country’s educational and cultural institutions with RSS men and women. If despite this, here is a concrete instance of the window of opportunity that still exists for us.

How did the parliamentary standing committee, which has scored on all our behalf in the present context, awaken to the issue of bias in school textbooks? With due modesty, we’d like to remind our readers of the small role played by Combat and Khoj – education for a plural India project of Sabrang Communications – in this process.

  • A series of workshops organised by Khoj in Gujarat in association with local NGOs in the last one year — on the issues of bias in school textbooks and in school education. Extensive reportage on the issues raised at these workshops by the mass media.

  • Two of our cover stories in the last six months – How textbooks teach prejudice (Combat, October 1999) and, Bias in education: Your child’s future in your hands (Combat, January 2000). Combat copies reach a large number of MPs.

  • Translation and wide circulation of the Combat cover stories in Gujarati, Hindi and Telugu.

  • Extensive reportage in the mass media (print and electronic, national and international) on bias in textbooks following our cover stories.

  • The picking up of the issue by the parliamentary standing committee of the HRD ministry.

In short, it was the collective contribution of a whole number of concerned individuals and organisations which culminated in the admission of bias and the assurance to make amends by the Gujarat government.

The moral behind the story –

One: We can do it! It is still possible for you and us to make ‘miracles’ happen.

Two: But we must not forget that one miracle is not enough.

  • Gujarat is not the only state where school textbooks are biased.

  • School and college textbooks used in states ruled by self-avowedly secular parties are not necessarily better — in fact, the Gujarat textbooks were written while the Congress was in power. (See Combat, October 1999).

  • Even the books prescribed by the ICSE board are not problem free.

  • The problem is not merely that of ‘saffron’ bias, but gender and caste bias, too.

So, there’s lots to be done still. To start with, collect instances of ‘bias’ (communal, casteist, gender) and write to the parliamentary standing committee directly. Or, write to us and we will pursue the matter on your behalf and keep you posted.

May more miracles happen!

 

 



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