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The National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has run into allegations of functioning like an advertisement agency of the government after the announcement that it would bring out school study modules on achievements in recent years, including Covid management and women’s empowerment.
On Tuesday, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan released NCERT modules on Chandrayaan-3 that appeared to give much credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the success of the mission. Pradhan said the NCERT would publish modules on several other areas, focusing on the achievements of the government such as the G20 summit and India becoming the fifth largest economy.
“The NCERT will prepare modules. It is the responsibility of the education department to take the knowledge to the children,” Pradhan said.
A government official said the education ministry had asked the NCERT, which prepares textbooks, to come out with supplementary reading materials for schoolchildren on 15 themes. Multiple modules will be published on each theme to cater to the needs of children at the foundation, primary, middle secondary and higher secondary levels.
A former NCERT faculty said the academic body had never published material on the achievements of the incumbent government.
“It is unusual. I do not recall when the NCERT was asked by any government to prepare material for schoolchildren on its achievements. As long as these modules remain supplementary reading material, their use will be limited,” he said.
He said people had suffered a lot because of the unplanned and sudden lockdown during Covid and later due to the unavailability of oxygen, medicines and hospital beds.
Prof. Anita Rampal, former dean of faculty (education) at Delhi University and former chairperson of the Textbook Development Committee of the NCERT for primary classes, said the text of the modules on Chandrayaan appeared to be publicity material for the government.
Rampal said the NCERT had never been used like an ad agency for the government.
“The NCERT is an autonomous organisation. The government can advise it, but the NCERT as an expert body exercises its autonomy on academic matters. There have been instances when the NCERT has gone ahead with content critical of the party in power during the rule of the UPA government. The NCERT is an apex body and is expected to exercise such professional autonomy,” she said.
Rampal said the Chandrayaan modules had tried to attribute scientific success to a political leader, misrepresenting the actual process of science.
“It is part of Isro’s work culture to continue its experimentation and design, where failure is a part of innovation. The text suggests otherwise, and tends to disrespect the institutional legacy and nature of its scientific pursuit,” she said, adding that it amounted to trivialising the process of scientific exploration.
Rampal said two modules on G20 uploaded on the NCERT website and prepared by the education ministry use terms like India as “the fountainhead of democracy”.
“Professional textbook writers and educators avoid the use of phrases that are jingoistic and overly chauvinistic. In fact, our earlier Education Commission reports had strongly recommended academic rigour and restraint in such matters,” she said.
