EC writes to Centre seeking to vet NCERT social science textbooks: Report

The EC has been engaging in correspondence with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) since 2016 over its plan to recommend changes to textbooks

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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has informed the Centre that it wants to vet social science textbooks of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for factual errors and infirmities, reported ThePrint.

The poll body has stated that it wants to review the books for "correctness and relevance," claiming that the current content does not enable pupils to make "ethical ballot decisions."

Among the passages in which the ECI has suggested amendments are chapters deleted from Class 6 and Class 10 textbooks by the NCERT in 2022. The educational body had deleted the chapters ostensibly to lessen the academic strain on students amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The deleted chapters are "Key Elements of a Democratic Government" in Class 6 and "Popular Struggles and Movements" in Class 10.

In the chapter in the Class 6 textbook, the ECI said that the "elaboration of conflict is totally unnecessary at this tender age".

With respect to the chapter in the Class 10 book, it said that the extract spoke "much about conflicts, struggles, popular movements, agitations" but not as much about involving young people in "citizenship development for electoral participation", the report said.

The chapter in the Class 6 book discussed the concepts of equality and discrimination, with references to apartheid in South Africa as well as movements led by Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities. The deleted chapter of the Class 10 book mentioned the National Alliance for People's Movements, led by activist Medha Patkar, as well as anti-monarchy protests in Nepal.

According to official records, the ECI has been engaging in correspondence with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) since 2016 over its plan to recommend changes to textbooks. In 2020, the Ministry of Human Resource Development was renamed the Ministry of Education (MoE).