The RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) has flagged some “distortions” in the NCERT’s college textbooks, before a house panel, including one on late MF Hussain in Class 11 Hindi textbook and references to Mughal rulers issuing grants for the upkeep and maintenance of temples in Class 12 History book.
The Nyas, which is headed by Dina Nath Batra, former head of Vidya Bharti, the educational wing of RSS, was invited to appear before the parliamentary standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports on Tuesday.
The panel is headed by Rajya Sabha member Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. The committee was hearing suggestions from senior officials of the education ministry, the CBSE chairman, NCERT director, retired NCERT officials and others on reforms in contents and designs of textbooks, removing references to non-historical facts and distortions about national heroes from school books, as well as ensuring equal or proportionate references to all periods of the Indian history.
“The committee welcomed feedback on the topic on social media. Through this exercise, some organisations requested to be heard personally,” said a member on invitation to SSUN and Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal.
The parliamentary panel has taken up the issue of the textbook reforms at a time the Union government had already begun working on the groundwork for a new National Curriculum Framework.