Politics Of Indian History -2

[acharya]

NCERT beyond redemption
Apropos JS Rajput’s article ‘Distorting history’ (August 23) I do not agree with his evaluation of the quality and expertise of the NCERT faculty, past or present. <b>In fact, the NCERT as an institution has no expertise in the field of school education and has distorted it beyond redemption.</b>

The NCERT lost its autonomy when Nurul Hassan, then Union Education Minister, imposed 19 subject expert committees on the NCERT in 1975-76 to develop curriculum and prepare school textbooks. <span style='color:red'>These committees later turned into what can be termed ‘academic mafia’. </span>

Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh is following the same route by appointing those with little knowledge of school education in the textbook advisory committees. Regarding the quality and expertise of the NCERT faculty members, the less said the better. They have turned every recommendation of the
Kothari Commission Report, “National Education and Development”, upside down.

Sudarshan Kumar Kapur