Allegations of NCERT dropping Preamble from textbooks are 'baseless', says Dharmendra Pradhan

New Delhi: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said that there were no changes made to any textbooks, in response to allegations that the preamble was missing from the textbooks of children in classes 3 and 6 and, said that the Congress was indulging in the "politics of lies".

On Monday night, NCERT issued a statement denying that the Preamble of the Constitution was dropped from any textbook.

Pradhan, in a post on X, said that the Congress was "using a subject like education" for the "politics of lies". "... taking the help of children for this shows the disgusting mentality of the Congress party. Those who are playing with the future of children and calling the Indian education system rubbish should try to know the truth before spreading lies," he said.

He alleged that the Congress was inspired by "Macaulay's ideology". "The argument that only the Preamble of the Constitution reflects constitutional values exposes Congress' understanding of the Constitution," the minister said.

Professor Ranjana Arora, Head of the Department of Curriculum and Development at NCERT, in a post on X, said that "for the first time" the curriculum body was giving importance to various facets of the Indian Constitution. "

"Preamble, Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights and the National Anthem. All these are being placed in various textbooks of various stages," Arora said in a statement.

"The understanding that only the Preamble reflects the Constitution and Constitutional Values is flawed and narrow. Why should children not acquire Constitutional Values from Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights and National Anthem along with Preamble? We give equal importance to all of these for the holistic development of children following the vision of NEP - 2020," Arora's statement further read.