On Monday, CBSE announced that it will be reviewing the textbooks of the private publishers which are being taught in affiliated schools.The board made this statement after jointly consulting with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).
Earlier this month, the board also made it mandatory for all the CBSE affiliated schools to follow the NCERT curriculum from the coming 2017-18 session.The step was taken as the syllabus of the NCERT is more oriented towards several national entrance examinations for medical, engineering and other competitive examinations.
Why such a decision?
Private textbooks came into light when some of the books being used to teach the students found to contain some controversial material in them.Environmental science textbook for class 6 suggested killing kitten as a part of experiment. This went viral on social media which forced the publisher to withdraw it from the market.
Excerpts from the textbooks which raised the controversy:
- "Take two wooden boxes. Make holes on lid of one box. Put a small kitten in each box. Close the boxes. After some time open the boxes. What do you see? The kitten inside the box without the holes has died," the EVS textbook reads.
- Similarly, earlier this month, news came up regarding a Sociology textbook for class 12 students which suggested that the reasons behind dowry being a prevalent issue in the country is due to a girl's "ugliness."
The CBSE has directed schools to make it mandatory for the NCERT textbooks and for the distribution the books the board has set up 680 distribution vendors nationwide.