New Delhi: The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has dropped references to the “Khalistan” movement from its Class 12 political science textbooks — a development that comes two months after some other “revisions” in the board’s history syllabus led to a major political row.
Announcing the latest spate of changes, Sanjay Kumar, secretary for the Union department of school education and literacy, said at a press conference Tuesday that the decision was taken at Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC) urging.
In its representation to the board, the SGPC — Punjab’s apex body for management of gurdwaras — asked for “objectionable content” against Sikhs to be removed.
According to Kumar, changes have been made to a paragraph enumerating the Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 1973. In addition, words such as “creation of a separate Sikh nation” have been removed.
Initiated by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Anandpur Sahib Resolution asks, among other things, for Sikhism to be recognised as separate from Hinduism, more powers to states and greater autonomy for the state of Punjab.
Kumar said that the NCERT constituted a committee to examine SGPC’s demands and the changes were based on its suggestions.
“Since the books have already been printed and are out for distribution, the NCERT has issued a corrigendum and the correction has been made in textbooks available online,” Kumar said.
The development comes less than two months after NCERT’s “revisions” in its syllabus, including its history and political science textbooks, led to a massive controversy.
Among the changes that drew most criticism was the central education board’s decision to drop some content on the Mughals and the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The NCERT justified its decision by saying it was an attempt to reduce the ‘rationalise’ curriculum to help bring down the burden on students.
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What has been removed
According to Kumar, changes have been made to the paragraph on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in the chapter titled ‘Regional Aspirations’, which describes the changes in India post partition.
The text currently reads: The resolution also spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh community and declared its goal as attaining the bolbala (dominance) of the Sikhs. The resolution was a plea for strengthening federalism, but it could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation.
The line “but it could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation” has now been removed.
Similarly, the reference to “Khalistan” has also been removed from another paragraph, the text of which reads:
The resolution has limited appeal among the Sikh masses. A few years later, after the Akali government had been dismissed in 1980, the Akali Dal launched a movement on a question of the distribution of water between Punjab and its neighboring states. A section of the religious leaders raised the question of autonomous Sikh identity. The more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of ‘Khalistan’.
The line “the more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of ‘Khalistan’” has been removed.
Kumar enumerated the reasons for removing these lines.
“There is some reading in between the lines, in these lines in particular, which can be taken out of context,” he said at the briefing.
Previous controversy
This isn’t the first time NCERT revised its syllabus this year. Just as newly-printed textbooks hit the market in April, a row broke out over some deleted content in history and political science textbooks.
Among NCERT’s most controversial decisions was the dropping of a chapter on ‘Mughal Courts: Kings and Chronicles 2’, from Class 12 history textbooks and those titled ‘Central Islamic Lands’, ‘Clash of Cultures’ and ‘Industrial Revolution’ from Class 11 books.
Justifying its decisions, the NCERT said that the changes were part of a “rationalisation exercise” undertaken in 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The board also cited the National Education Policy, 2020 — an ambitious policy of the Modi government that suggests sweeping changes to the school education system — as the reason behind the changes.
“In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset,” NCERT said in a statement.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)