Centre of Indian Trade Unions, All India Agricultural Workers’ Union and All India Kisan Sabha strongly condemns the sinister move by the BJP Government to tamper with the school syllabus under the pretext of COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown. Pursuing the Sangh Parivar line of undermining the Indian Constitution, Secularism, Federalism and democratic rights, the HRD Ministry through CBSE and NCERT are trying to bring in drastic changes. CBSE has completely deleted sections on Citizenship, Nationalism, Secularism, and Federalism as well as on topics like democratic rights, people’s struggles, new social movements, Planning Commission, Five Year Plans, food security, diversity, gender, religion and caste etc. Many other relevant topics have also been set aside. The CBSE clarification that it is a one-time move to reduce the burden of students is untenable given that the topics set aside are part of the basic features of the Constitution. There have been similar moves to communalise education many times and it is part of a clear design.
The BJP government claims that it has decided to cut short the syllabus to compensate for the academic days lost due to the lockdown. The HRD Minister has claimed it is as part of rationalization of syllabus by up to 30 percent while retaining the “core” concepts. It is only a continuation of their policy of distorting history and communalization of education. It is indicative of the political agenda of the BJP and Sangh Parivar and the fact that basic features of the Indian Constitution and democracy are no longer seen as relevant “core” concepts by them.
CITU, AIAWU and AIKS demand the immediate scrapping of the decision and to restore the actual core concepts in the NCERT text books. We extend solidarity with the students’ community and teachers as well as their organisations who have come out against this move.
Tapan Sen B.Venkat Hannan Mollah
General Secretary, CITU General Secretary, AIAWU General Secretary, AIKS
