The Karnataka Education Department has officially removed the ‘controversial’ content from the textbooks that had allegedly hurt the sentiments of the Brahmin community in Karnataka. In a formal order on Friday, the Department of Public Instruction ordered to pull out two pages from the lesson—‘Birth of New Religions’ in the social studies textbook for 6th grade under state boards.
As per the formal statement issued by the Karnataka Textbook Society earlier this week, the teachers were told not to teach two pages from the lesson 'Birth of new religions' which had stated rituals like animal sacrifice as brahminical practices. The lesson had stated that during the post-vedic period, there was food scarcity as animals were sacrificed during religious events.
The decision to remove the content comes after a delegation from the Brahmin Development Board petitioned Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa that certain contents in the chapter had hurt the sentiments of the community. Prof Baraguru Ramachandrappa, who headed the textbook revision committee during the previous congress the government said that the issue had raised eyebrows as a significant part of the information under the Buddhism chapter has also been deleted.
“The information that has been removed now is also part of the NCERT book and was completely based on the facts. The move has now triggered an even bigger problem that whenever a controversy arises, governments cannot decide on what needs to be eliminated from the textbooks. Subject experts shall take a call on such matters based on facts,” Prof Ramachandrappa said.