NCERT says changes likely from this session

Two days after HRD Minister Kapil Sibal apologised in Parliament for the controversial cartoon of B R Ambedkar in a Class XI textbook

Two days after HRD Minister Kapil Sibal apologised in Parliament for the controversial cartoon of B R Ambedkar in a Class XI textbook,sources at the National Council of Education,Research and Training (NCERT) said the decision regarding the changes are likely to come into effect in the current session itself.

An official at NCERT said changes are currently being discussed and this could take at least two to three more days before any changes are formalised.

Reacting to the development,Principal of Springdales School,Pusa Road,Ameeta Mulla Watal said,It is very important to write textbooks carefully as they affect the mindset and thinking of children. She said pictures are more likely to affect children than the written words.

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Watal referred to what she called the saffronisation of education many years ago when efforts were made to bring about changes in History textbooks during the NDA government in 2002. Even at that time students photocopied the relevant chapters and classes went on as usual.

L V Sehgal,chairperson of the National Progressive Schools Alliance,said since the changes are most likely to be only illustrative and not in the content,it may not make much of a difference unless there is such a directive from the government to change the books completely.