Over 1,330 Changes In NCERT Books: Emphasis On Nationalist Icons, Word ‘Comrade’ Removed From Chapter On Bhagat Singh

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made at least 1,334 changes in its 182 textbooks, The Indian Express has reported.

According to the daily, 573 have been made to Science books, 316 to Social Science books and 163 to Sanskrit books. The changes made to the textbooks for class VI to X include additions, corrections and data update.

The revised books place new emphasis on nationalist leaders like Peshwa and Maratha general Bajirao Ballal, Jat king Suraj Mal, Rajput icons Maharana Pratap and Chhatrapati Shivaji, freedom fighters Lala Lajpat Rai and Vallabhbhai Patel, and spiritual leaders Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda. These icons have either been added to the History textbooks or have been given more space.

The Indian Express report says that the revision in textbooks is “more noticeable in the case of Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo Ghose”. While the older version of the class 8 History textbook had only has 21 words on the Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda, the revised textbook has another 250 words.

In Chapter 11 of the book, which talks about freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, NCERT has added the names of Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Rajguru.

“Revolutionary nationalists such as Bhagat Singh and his comrades wanted to fight colonial rule and the rich exploiting classes through a revolution of workers and peasants,” the older version reads.

In the new version, NCERT has replaced the words “and his comrades” with the names of Chandra Shekhar Azad and Sukhdev.

Chapter 10 of the class VII textbook introduces Jat king Suraj Mal. Under Suraj Mal, “the power of Jats reached its zenith”, the book reads.