No doubt there has been a longish gap, but here I am… ready to resume our conversation with this episode of Cabbages and Kings.
VOICES OF DISSENT
Today I am inclined to express my views about the arbitrary rationalization of school curriculum by NCERT and the ensuing outrage spilling across media. Being an educationist with around 50 odd years teaching in classrooms, designing pedagogical material and authoring textbooks prescribed in schools across the country, unequivocally, I cast my lot with dissenting voices.
At the cost of sounding pedantic, I must point out how these deletions lead to dangerous gaps in the curriculum. You see, school curriculum is designed for students to grasp the thematic pattern of each discipline in its entirety. To achieve this, chapters of all textbooks follow a graded progression where the theme or topic is introduced, recapitulated and upgraded very carefully across each school level to culminate in a student’s micro as well as macro understanding of it.
POINT IN CASE
Let me make a case where the deletion of the chapter Democracy and Diversity in Class X curriculum by NCERT will confuse the student. The deleted chapter focuses on global comprehension of social diversity and its various forms while recapitulating the previous chapter that deals with the theory and practice of federalism in India. The previous chapter explains political power is distributed to accommodate linguistic and regional diversities. This idea is expanded in Democracy and Diversity to how people get distinct identities and how democracy responds to social differences, divisions, and inequalities.
What do you think? Is the progression logical?
Besides the deleted chapter offers students an opportunity to understand why a large and diverse country
like India continues to be such a strong democracy over the last 75 years. It contains historical references to the civil rights movement, students are encouraged to debate on caste and race differences, the origin of social differences is exemplified by the instance of people living in different countries but with regional similarities such as India and Pakistan. Tales of apartheid and racial discrimination from other countries give students contexts. They can compare the extent of tolerance enjoyed by regional and social diversities in India. There is even an interesting analytical activity that profiles how every individual plays diverse social roles.
And it is this content that NCERT, an educational body responsible for the overall development of school students in our country, has deemed fit to delete because they believe grooming these social attitudes in Gen Z is irrelevant despite living in an increasingly polarized world.
BRIDGE THIS GAP
In such an environment, it becomes imperative to have socially aware but politically neutral interventions. My anxiety and concern for the skewed growth of Gen Z’s social attitudes are the genesis of my book, The Birth Of My Nation…a sincere attempt to bridge this gap. It aims to sensitize young minds about what makes our country a safe space where diversities are encouraged to flourish and grow. The book manifests how India’s global power and influence is embedded in the celebration of her integral differences.
It is not about enjoying masala dosas or channa-bhatura.
It is about calling your parents Abbu and Ammi
even when you may worship in a temple!
Maybe this excerpt from The Birth Of My Nation better elucidates this idea…
STRENGTH OF DIVERSITY
India endures as one entity because she is woven with diverse threads. It is a phenomenon that cannot be reiterated enough to our young people who live in a world constantly fragmented by discrimination. I hope that The Birth Of My Nation, now being read by school students across the country, will help make Gen Z socially aware and sensitive notwithstanding unjustified content deletions by national curriculum bodies.
Till next time when we talk of
‘…why the sea is boiling hot----And whether pigs have wings…’
Take care!
