Bengaluru: A controversy is swirling around the revision of state syllabus textbooks by a revision committee headed by Prof. Baraguru Ramachandrappa with the opposition and government exchanging charges.
The principal opposition party, the BJP, has already knocked on the doors of the Rajbhavan seeking Governor Vajubhai Vala’s intervention to stop the state government from issuing the revised textbooks to state schools.
Now, a city resident has launched an online petition seeking CM Siddaramaiah’s intervention to stop the education department from implementing the recommendations made by the revision committee.
The petition has become an instant hit and has garnered a number of hits since its launch just 24 hours ago. He has also sought the intervention of the governor.
The resident, Balaji S., has pointed out that the state government and the Department of Public Instruction have not been transparent in revising the textbooks.
The deadline for the final versions of the syllabus from various subject committees is January 15, 2017. “We believe that the present exercise of changing the textbooks with secrecy surrounding it will sow seeds of divisiveness and inequality in the next generation(s),” he charged.
“It is a well-known fact that once the textbooks are printed, they can be printed again only after 4-5 years because of logistic reasons.
“When the Centre is in the process of formulating a National Education Policy in 2017 to be implemented by 2018, why is the state hurrying to publish new textbooks based on a new state syllabus,” he asked.
“Based on a study by renowned scientist Dr Kastrirangan to determine why Karnataka students lag behind in national competitive exams, the Karnataka Knowledge Commission had recommended to the state government to make translations of CBSE textbooks available to students. Officials in the Education Department were in the process of implementing it. But with the new state syllabus, the state government is working against the interests of students and weakening their aptitude in national competitive examinations. Is it right to play with the future of students for the sake of enforcing political ideology in textbooks,” he asked.
