On 21st January 2021, representatives of Jnana Prabodhini presented their views in front of DRPSC and had a discussion with hon. committee members. Recently Report of DRPSC on EWCYS was made public on Rajya Sabha website.
Presenting extract from the report in two parts: points recognised and mentioned in report based on presentation by Jnana Prabodhini (Page no.15-17) and final recommendations by the committee.
Extract from 331st Report of DRPSC on EWCYS
DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY
STANDING COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, WOMEN, CHILDREN, YOUTH AND SPORTS
THREE
HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIRST REPORT
‘REFORMS IN CONTENT AND DESIGN OF SCHOOL TEXT BOOKS’
(Presented to the Rajya
Sabha on 30th November,2021)
(Laid on the Table of Lok
Sabha on 30th November,2021)
Rajya Sabha Secretariat,
New Delhi
November, 2021
/Agrahayana, 1943, (Saka)
|
Department-related
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and
Sports took up the subject "Reforms in the content and design of School
Text Books" focusing on: a. Removing references to
un-historical facts and distortions about our national heroes from the text
books; b. Ensuring equal or
proportionate references to all periods of Indian History; and c. Highlighting the role of
great historic women achievers, including Gargi, Maitreyi, or rulers like
Rani of Jhansi, Rani Channamma, Chand Bibi, Zalkari Bai, etc. |
Points recognised and
mentioned in report
Based on presentation by
Jnana Prabodhini
(Extracted from the report: Page no 15 -17)
Jnana
Prabodhini, Pune
2.4.5. The representatives
of Jnana Prabodhini, Pune suggested for forming of committees
on textbooks to look into the aspects of Content, Process and Design. In this
regard they made the following suggestions:
A.
Content:
·
Inclusion of History of North East India: Bhakti and social movements in Assam
and Manipur, tribal heroes who fought against British, contribution of
Arunachal and Manipur with reference to Azad Hind Fauj and 1962 war, dynasties
in Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya.
·
Regional history content needs to be introduced as supplementary reading
material in NCERT syllabus schools, CBSE schools in the respective regions so
that those students do not feel alienated with the history of that specific
region.
·
More emphasis on role of women: Role of women as rulers, their role in
knowledge sector,
Apart
from history of political dynasties, there must be proportionate representation
on History of knowledge: history of mathematic learning in India, history of
Indian medicine, history of Indian architecture, history of philosophy.
·
Post-independence History of Indian pride also needs to be stressed: Story of
ISRO, story of BARC, story of cooperative movement (Story of Amul), story of
restorations (Somnath, Hampi, archaeological sites such as Lothal) etc.
·
Shortcomings of the Indian society (in sectors such as social structures,
industrialization, and governance) with thoughts of eminent persons to overcome
those shortcomings.
·
Changes in religious practices of various religions over centuries,
commensurate to changing times.
B.
Process:
·
Project based learning in formative assessment to explore historical events,
thinking and to practice historical skills.
·
Ability to process information: acquiring information, organizing information
(classifying, analysing, synthesizing, summarizing), Using information
(interpreting, evaluating, decision making)
·
Interpersonal relations and social participation which can lead to empathy and
harmony: Interaction with community elders and Field visits from neighborhood
to different states.
·
Emphasis on Activities to promote enquiry in History.
·
Comprehensive and Continuous teacher training programmes for Innovative
pedagogy with focus on history.
·
Comparative chronology can be made integral part of Textbooks so that students
can reflect upon national progress by studying century wise concurrent events
in other continents and societies.
C.
Design:
·
Curriculum of history can be organized in an ascending order. The scope of
curriculum grows with the growth of experience sphere of students from local to
global.
·
Digitization of textbooks to make them attractive and dynamic document to go
beyond text/ printed form: need to add audio-visuals with QR codes.
·
Inclusion of intellectual games, simulations. VR Games modeled to let students
experience the historical times (for example ‘Real lives’)
·
Digitization of workbook that can be integrated with digitized textbooks so
that students can access what they have learnt in previous standards, what they
have expressed in previous standards. Just as digital locker can keep their
personal documents, similar processes need to be coupled with education so that
expression of students as regards to history may be stored and accessed
digitally.
·
Efforts can be taken on National level to integrate Artificial Intelligence and
Machine learning in evaluation or assessment of education. A pilot project is
underway at Jnana Prabodhini to make use of chat-bots so that students can
‘teach’ software so that we can assess students for what they have
learnt.
RECOMMENDATIONS
(Extracted from the report: Page no 32 -37)
In view of the
evidences gathered throughout the process, the Committee strongly recommends
that:
5.1. While creating
the content for textbooks, inputs from experts from multiple disciplines should
be sought. This will ensure balance and diversity of views. It should also be
ensured that books are free of biases. The textbooks should instill commitment
to values enshrined in the constitution and should further promote national
integration and unity.
5.2. There is a
pressing need to develop high-quality textbooks and effective teaching methods.
Thus mandatory standards related to text-book content, graphics and layout,
supplementary materials, and pedagogical approaches should be developed. Such
standards are needed for printed as well as digital textbooks.
5.3. There is a need
to have more child-friendly textbooks. This is possible through enhanced use of
pictures, graphics, QR codes, and other audio-visual materials. Children should
be taught through enhanced used of games, plays, dramas, workshops, visits to
places of historical importance, museums etc. as such approaches will ignite
their inquisitiveness and analytical abilities.
5.4. The initiative
of Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production & Curriculum Research
known as Ekatmik Pathya Pustak conceived in 2018-19 to lighten the school bag
is appreciable. Towards this, the Bureau has created quarter-specific
integrated material for Marathi, English, Mathematics and 'Play, Do, Learn' for
Class I students into a single book. A similar approach may be adopted by
others. Such initiative will be aligned to the School Bag Policy of New
Education Policy (NEP), 2020 as laid out in Section 4.33.
5.5. Education must
be provided in the light of values enshrined in the constitution which cannot
be taught by mere delivery of information. The pedagogy woven around textbooks
has a lasting impact on the minds of the student and hence
learning-by-experiment methodology should be compulsorily used by all teachers.
Such an approach will enhance positive attitude towards learning amongst
students.
5.6. The
prioritization of development of foundational skills amongst primary students
is required by the NEP-2020, and therefore necessitates the use of information
technology and digital devices. Therefore, digital content should be created
and disseminated using satellite technology to enhance our students’ capabilities
and potentials. Such approaches will further curriculum reform and will also
help develop more effective operational models for content delivery, and
learning. Introduction of modern technologies/ methodologies for the
dissemination of information as part of teaching strategies should be
undertaken preferably after enabling the possibility of the same uniformly in
every part of the country. Schools in remote corners of the country should be
suitably equipped for the same.
5.7. The primary
school textbooks should serve two purposes; provide strong foundation in core
areas such as reading, writing and arithmetic, and provoke curiosity so that
students can rapidly expand their knowledge in later years. This is also in
alignment with NEP 2020's goal of promoting competency-based learning.
5.8. The NCERT and
SCERTs should primarily focus on providing core content through their
textbooks. Detailed information and supplementary materials may be provided
through other texts, videos, reference books, A/V files, etc. Further,
textbooks should be anchored in facticity. Any presentation of data or survey
results should be appropriately referenced. Textbooks should be designed to
provoke curiosity and analytical abilities, should be tuned to cognitive
capability of the student, and should employ simple language. Further, efforts
should be made to design textbooks in ways such that project-based,
art-integrated, and experiential learning models can be deployed for effective
education . In this way, our textbooks will promote scientific temper,
innovation, and also the four Cs; Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and
Critical Thinking.
5.9 The Ministry
should explore the possibility of developing a core class-wise common syllabus
for various subjects for implementation by CBSE, CICSE and various other State
education Boards as this will go a long way in maintaining uniformity in
educational standards of school students across the country.
5.10. Our textbooks
should highlight the lives of hitherto unknown men and women from different
states and districts who have positively influenced our national history,
honour, and one-ness. This may require content production teams to dig deeper
into local sources of knowledge, including oral ones, and identify linkages
between the local and the national. In this way, our textbooks should elicit
“Unity in Diversity” of India emphasizing that diversity in India is in fact
diverse manifestation of the innate one-ness or intrinsic unity.
5.11. The textbooks
should include content on world history and India’s place in the same. In this
regard, special emphasis must be placed on the histories of other countries of
the world. This is aligned with international guidelines which argue for study
of history through a multi-perspective approach. Further, sufficient emphasis
must also be placed on the connects between histories of South-East Asia and
India. This would be very useful in the context of India’s Look East policy.
5.12. Our history
textbooks should be continually updated, and account for post-1947 history as
well. In addition, an option of conducting review of National Curricular
Framework at regular intervals should be kept.
5.13. The Department
of School Education & Literacy and NCERT should carefully study how other
ancient civilizations/ countries teach their own histories to their respective
citizens through textbook content, and areas of emphasis. The results of such a
study should be used to improve our own history textbooks and teaching methods
taking into consideration history at the grassroots level preferably at the
district levels. Further, the State Boards may prepare district-wise history
books that will impart knowledge about local historical figures to the
students.
5.14. The NCERT
should consider the suggestions received by this Committee, while framing the
NCF and syllabus of the textbooks. For avoiding content overload on students,
NCERT in collaboration with SCERT should identify State-specific historical
figures for inclusion in respective SCFs. Efforts may also be made to
incorporate and highlight the contributions of the numerous local personalities
in various fields in State curriculum.
5.15. The NCERT and
SCERT should incorporate the ancient wisdom, knowledge and teachings about life
and society from Vedas and other great Indian Texts/ Books in the school
curriculum. Also, educational methodologies adopted in the ancient Universities
like Nalanda, Vikramshila and Takshila should be studied and suitably modified
to serve as a model reference for teachers so as to benefit them in improving
their pedagogical skills for imparting education in the present day context.
5.16. Contributions
of ancient India in the fields of Philosophy, Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Ayurveda,
Epistemology, Natural sciences, Politics, Economy, Ethics, Linguistics, Arts,
etc may also be included in the textbooks. The traditional Indian knowledge
systems should be linked with modern science and presented in the contemporary
context in NCERT textbooks.
5.17. New
technologies should be adopted for better pedagogy for the education of
History. Further a permanent mechanism to make suitable rectifications through
additions or deletions in the textbooks in a structured manner needs to be established.
5.18. All books
especially history books other than published by Government agencies used for
supplementary reading may be in consonance with the structure/ content of NCERT
books to avoid discrepancies. Also, Ministry of Education should develop a
monitoring mechanism for ensuring the same.
5.19. There is a need
for discussing and reviewing, with leading historians, the manner in which
Indian freedom fighters, from various regions/parts of the country and their
contributions get place in History textbooks. This will result in more balanced
and judicious perception of the Indian freedom struggle. This will go a long
way in giving due and proper space to the freedom fighters hitherto unknown and
oblivious in the freedom movement. Review of representation of community
identity based history as of Sikh and Maratha history and others and their
adequate incorporation in the textbooks will help in a more judicious
perspective of their contribution.
5.20. In order to
address the underrepresentation of Women and girls in school textbooks or them
being depicted only in traditional roles, a thorough analysis from the view
point of gender bias and stereotypes should be undertaken by NCERT and efforts
be made to make content portrayal and visual depiction gender inclusive. The
textbooks should have greater portrayal of women in new and emerging
professions, as role models with a focus on their contributions and pathway of
achieving the same. This will help in instilling self-esteem and self
confidence among all, particularly girls. Also, while examining the textbooks,
other issues like environment sensitivity, human values, issues of children
with special needs etc can also be looked up for adequate inclusion in the
School textbooks.
5.21. The significant
role played by women in the freedom movement and in various other fields needs
adequate representation in the textbooks as it would go a long way in
understanding the issues in a better way for the next generation of students.
5.22. One of the
major social ills afflicting our society in the present times is the malaise of
drug addiction cutting across the class divide. It has far-reaching adverse
effects on the socio-economic structure of the country, and that concerted
efforts are required to be made by the government agencies as well as the civil
society to combat this menace. As part of these efforts, the ill effects of
such addiction must be adequately and suitably highlighted in strong words, in
the content of school text books to caution the impressionable young minds of
students against falling prey to luring tactics of anti-social elements and
resulting in waywardness. Similarly, the textbooks should have separate
elements spreading awareness against internet addiction and other such aspects
that are harmful to the society.
5.23. Taking into
account the voluminous number of suggestions received from teachers, students,
Institutions for updating the syllabus of NCERT textbooks incorporating various
subjects, an internal Committee be set up by Ministry of Education and NCERT to
examine the suggestions so received and incorporate the same in curriculum as
deem fit.
5.24. All NCERT and
SCERT textbooks must be published in all Eighth Schedule languages of the
Constitution of India, besides Hindi and English. Further, efforts for
developing textbooks in local languages (those not part of the Eighth Schedule)
be also made. These will help the children in understanding the subjects better
as the content will be in their mother tongue.
5.25. To supplement
the textbook content, field visits/ excursions should be introduced as a
compulsory part of learning experience. As an initiative in this regard,
textbooks can introduce a "Box Format" near the name of the place
being mentioned stating the importance of that place whether religious,
historical, etc. promoting the readers to visit it. This would further promote
North-South and East-West integration.
Ref.
Page no 32-37
To download 331st Report of DRPSC on EWCYS click
following link
https://rajyasabha.nic.in/Committees/DepartmentRelatedSC_RS?id=16
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