Kerala govt to include NCERT omitted portions in state school syllabus

The curriculum steering committee meeting of the Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) on Tuesday decided to include the portions omitted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in the state school syllabus, said a statement.

According to the statement, the curriculum steering committee meeting held today has discussed the inclusion of portions excluded by NCERT from the syllabus. The committee authorised public education minister V Sivankutty to discuss the matter with the government and take a decision.

Earlier, Minister V Sivankutty said that the state will include the portions in the Kerala school syllabus. NCERT has excluded Mughal history, Gujarat riots and Darwin's theory of evolution from school textbooks.

Reacting to the controversy surrounding NCERT's decision to omit certain portions from the school syllabus, minister Sivankutty said that the state government can print textbooks independently unless the central government denies the permission to teach these subjects.

Addressing a press meeting, the minister said, "The state government can print textbooks independently unless the Centre denies giving permission to teach these subjects. Teachers' unions also believe that the omitted lessons should be taught."

Infroming about the study of Gujarat riots and Mughal history in Kerala, the Education Minister said, "Kerala is moving forward by giving importance to constitutional and secular values. Kerala is of the opinion that the omitted subjects including the Gujarat riots and Mughal history should be studied."

"Kerala will examine how to teach it. Objections to the omission of these subjects shall be intimated in writing to the Central Government," he added.