CBSE textbook title leads to controversy

Thiruvananthapuram: Priya Malayalam, a textbook published by a private publisher for CBSE Class III students has courted controversy for altering the title of Kumaranasan’s poem.

Kumaranasan, a disciple of Sree Narayana Guru, was a prominent voice of the renaissance movement. He was one of the poets who was part of the famous modern Kavithrayam or the triumvirate poets of Malayalam. He was revered in the Malayalam literary circles by being honoured with the title Mahakavi.

The name of the poem Kuttiyum Thallayum was altered to Kuttiyum Ammayum allegedly following complaints from some schools that the word ‘Thalla’ is a derogatory term. Both Thalla and Amma are synonyms and means  mother in English. CBSE does not prescribe any specific textbooks for lower classes.
The title of the poem was allegedly changed following complaints from schools.

Kerala CBSE School Management Association president T.P.M. Ibrahim Khan downplayed the incident.

Mr Khan told Deccan Chronicle that almost 90 per cent of the CBSE schools use Kerala Padavali published by the state government as Malayalam textbooks.

The association was also in favour of using Kerala Padavali and encouraged its members to use it. Some schools go for textbooks of private publishers due to the shortage of Kerala Padavali, said Mr Khan. Kuttiyum Thallayum meaning child and mother was written by Mahakavi Kumaranasan in 1910.  The poem in simple language is an imaginary dialogue between a toddler and mother and formed part of the collection of poems published under the title Pushpavadi. In a question-answer format, it is about the fantasy of child of flying high to play with butterflies.