EC wants to vet NCERT social science books — less ‘conflict & movements’, more ‘citizenship development’
Sourav Roy Barman | 14 December 2023 | The Print
New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) has written to the Modi government, flagging “factual mistakes and infirmities” in NCERT social science textbooks, according to official records seen by ThePrint.
The poll watchdog has said it wants to vet the books for “correctness and relevance”, adding that the existing content “fails” to prepare students for making “ethical ballot decisions”.
The EC proposal is “an outcome of high-level correspondence starting from 2016, between the chief election commissioner and the minister of human resource development (MHRD)”, show the records.
The MHRD was renamed Ministry of Education in 2020.
The EC’s proposal on “gaps and suggested amendments to the curriculum” include two chapters — from the Class 6 and Class 10 social science textbooks — deleted by the NCERT in 2022 to ostensibly reduce the burden on students in light of the syllabus lag created by the Covid-19 pandemic.