New NCERT Textbooks (Phew!)
I just read a report in the Outlook magazine about the new face of NCERT (National Council for Educational Research & Training; the guys in-charge of making textbooks for CBSE students) textbooks of political science and civics for class 12. All I could say after that was: "Phew! About time!"
Finally finally finally and finally, students won't be compelled to read paragraphs over paragraphs about the Indian constitutional and political structure. I remember that when I was reading those books in my 9th standard I actually thought that whats written in the books and what actually happens outside are supposed to be two totally different things. Not any more.
These new books now cover Indian political scenario in the *real* sense. All this limited upto some extent of course.
What I found to be the best was in the field of world politics, the textbook habitually iterated the word "US hegemony". Yes, they used that word in a textbook. Unbelievable, eh?
What can be a more realistic interpretation of the world than that?
If the report on the textbooks is believed to be correct, then these new books are going to present to the students the completely real world scenario: where the US uses its hegemony all over the world for its personal interests.
Yet, the best thing is that at the end of the day (rather at the end of the chapter) there is no bias or personal opinion about anything. Its all given in a balanced manner, and it is upto the student to analyse for himself/herself.
I believe that this is a major landamark in the history of indian education. Accolades to the NCERT for taking such a brave step inspite of growing political opposition against it (another hegemony?).
And.... the show is not over yet!!! What actually shows that the NCERT has come-of-age is a series of cartoons showcasing Unni and Munni, two typically indian characters, who comment on things in the text and beyond it.
My favourite is the one where Unni says "I don't know why they use difficult words like hegemony. In my town, its called dadagiri. Isn't that much better?"
Really, isn't that much better?
