The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the prime body in the field of education, is in the news again. This time, it is for cutting short the chapters from history and political science in the Classes 11 and 12 syllabi. It is obvious that the history syllabus has particularly attracted the attention of the CBSE and the result is that students, who are important stakeholders, are deprived of reading and understanding the parts which have been dropped.
Apparently, the reason for the move was the recommendations made by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), another apex body at the helm of affairs. These changes were brought in to maintain rationalisation and to follow the recommendations. Chapters on the non-aligned movement, the Cold War, the rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories, the rise of the Caliphate, and the economic and social conditions during the times of these empires have been deleted. These changes have been effected in the Class 11 syllabus.
In the Class 12 syllabus, a chapter on the “Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories Through Chronicles” has been dropped from the history textbook. Similarly, in the Class 10 syllabus, the topic, “Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture” from a chapter on food security has been dropped and Industrial Revolution, Democracy and Diversity have also been shown the doors. More than these, the translated excerpts from two poems in Urdu by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the “Religion, Communalism and Politics – Communalism Secular State” section have also been excluded from Class 10.
The changes, which will be applicable from the coming academic year, have been criticised by academicians, social activists, workers, scholars and the media -- both electronic and print. Social media has shown little response to this. Opposition parties, more particularly an MP of the TMC, has criticised the changes and accused the government of slowly progressing towards saffronisation of education. Many have criticised the NEP document.
By dropping the two poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and the chapter on ‘Democracy and Diversity’ from Class 10, the recommending authority has prevented the children from knowing the inner meaning and context of the poems and the time during which they were composed. The students have also been denied the knowledge of the evolution of Urdu from the language of the laity, both Hindus and Muslims, of the Indian subcontinent, during the 15th and 18th centuries to its standardisation into two languages. These children, who have missed the bus, must have also missed inspiring teachers who may have narrated in the classroom, while explaining these two poems, the difference between Persianised Urdu and Sanskritised Hindi, a rare combination to be found in no other country.
Students have been denied an opportunity to study a chapter on “Democracy and Diversity”. These two words considered iconic in the formation of India, right from its formative stages to this day, have influenced the history and culture of India. India, being a strong source of democracy, showed people outside the essence of democracy and the spirit behind acquiring democratic principles through various means during the British era. Similarly, our country has many things to offer many nations and people in the context of diversity, particularly cultural diversity and linguistic differences.
Students of Class 11, here on, will lose an opportunity to study Central Islamic Lands, particularly the rise of Islamic Empires in Afro-Asian geographical territories and the rise of the Caliphate. Perhaps, in shaping the modern day, the influence of this stage is more dominant than the earlier periods. Similarly, the influence of these developments cannot be simply ruled out for the significant role they played in a more energetic manner in influencing the stages of history in the succeeding centuries. By not studying these chapters in their curriculum framework, they will lose an opportunity to know the characters of vibrant culture that emerged in diverse geographical entities irrespective of political problems, both dynastic and tribal, crusades, warfare inventions and expansions. These resulted in cultural expansion that energised the cultural levels of the time. Missing this will weaken our children’s level of understanding and perception of various historical periods and stages.
With the pruning of a chapter on ‘Mughal Court’ and reconstructing histories through chronicles from the Class 12 history syllabus, the students are at a great loss. Importantly, this chapter dealt with the social, religious and cultural history of the Mughals at an interesting stage in the medieval and early modern phase in the history of India. This period is perceived as a lengthy phase of transition of development in our history, up to the period of pre-colonial times. It is an interesting stage marked by multiplicity of states and geopolitical regions, gradual spread of urbanisation, foreign invasions which influenced commercial and trade contacts resulting in the growth of science and technology. This period also gave wide space to growth of regional languages and literature. Much development took place in literature, religions, philosophy, art and architecture during this phase. It was a period of cultural synthesis. There is no meaning in the idea of Indianisation by simply negating everything other than Indian.
Our students will find there is a ‘missing link’. The Mughals, who ruled for two and half centuries, being nearest to us, should be of particular interest to us. This is because the period held sway over the culture of the time which flowed down deep till the advent of the colonial era. It is high time the committee, which axed interesting phases from the syllabus, reconsiders it. The committee, in other words, should introduce the concept at various levels to help students strengthen their ability and comprehend the concepts. Very few will agree that it is difficult to strengthen the edifice of education and make India ‘Vishwa Guru’ in the field of education by removing interesting phases in this syllabi of humanities, particularly history.
Apart from pursuing the knowledge (jnana), wisdom (pragyya) and truth (sathya) and lessons taken from the leaves of inspiration from the ancient Indian tradition of knowledge and education and by imbibing the inherent philosophical thoughts in multi-disciplinary and holistic education, let us also show that our curriculum welcomes ideas and thoughts from foreign lands and regions. Only then can we become a ‘global knowledge super power’.
(The writer is Associate Professor & Head (Retd), Department of History, JSS College for Women (Autonomous), Mysuru)