Total wipeout of Andhra Pradesh history from Telangana school books ‘petty’: Experts

Hyderabad: While aspects related to Andhra Pradesh will not figure in school books of Telangana, the move is leading to some resentment in academic circles.

Even a few members of the committee constituted to revise the curriculum opine in private that such restructuring is not a good move in the long term.

They say that the move could arouse further parochial feelings. The changes have been suggested by the revision committee to be made to the state school curriculum in Telangana on the direction of the state government.

These include the wholesale wiping out of Andhra Pradesh history and geography from the texts and substituting them with those of Telangana.

While the move per se is judicious, it raises questions if education should be bound by borders and if a co-existence of values and history of both states should not be taught to children.

“It is not right to totally wipe out AP from the texts because there are many things in AP, which are not present here, that all students should learn about.

For example, AP has coastal areas. Such aspects should be taught here,” a Telangana State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) official said.

A senior academician, asking not to be identified, called the move ‘petty’ and said it would only partially project history.

Former vice-chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University, Prof. V. Bala Mohan Das, said the move would arouse parochial feelings.

“This is definitely going to lead to parochial feelings. Students and learning shouldn’t be confined to regions. They are the sons of the soil but that doesn’t mean they completely ignore their neighbours.”

Prof. Das, however, added that it was right to learn about the culture and history of Telangana, but it should be at a moderate level.

Even in terms of the Telugu language, some members of the revision committee feel that wholesale changes don’t augur well for students and may not even be possible.