Undermined ‘our creative collective effort’: Academicians disassociate with NCERT textbook revision

33 renowned academicians who were part of the textbook development committee of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 2006-07 have written a letter to NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani, requesting the removal of their names from the political science textbooks currently being used in schools.

This move follows the recent dissociation of political scientists Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar from the rationalized textbooks.

The academicians expressed their concern that the recent rationalization exercise conducted by NCERT has undermined their "creative collective effort." They stated that the revisions made to the original texts have resulted in different books altogether, making it difficult for them to associate their names with the current versions.

The letter, written on Wednesday, highlighted the substantive changes made to the textbooks and the academicians' reluctance to claim ownership of the revised material.

The concerns raised by these academicians come shortly after Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar's initial letter to NCERT expressing their dissatisfaction with the rationalization process. They criticized the lack of educational rationale behind the exercise and expressed embarrassment at being associated with what they referred to as "mutilated and academically dysfunctional" books.

In response, NCERT released a public statement on June 9, emphasizing that once the books were published, the textbook development committees, including Yadav and Palshikar, ceased to exist. NCERT asserted that the copyright of the educational materials remains with them, independent of the committee.

The rationalization exercise conducted by NCERT last year aimed to reduce the curriculum in light of the learning disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, it has been reported that a significant part of chapters, paragraphs, and even sentences from various subjects' textbooks, including the references to the 2002 Gujarat riots, discussions on the effects of the Emergency, and chapters on protests and social movements have been removed as part of the revision from the political science textbooks.

The academicians emphasized in their letter that the original textbooks were the result of extensive deliberations and collaborations among political scientists from diverse perspectives and ideological backgrounds. These textbooks were designed to impart knowledge about India's freedom struggle, the constitutional framework, the functioning of democracy, and key aspects of Indian politics while incorporating global developments and theoretical principles of political science. They expressed concern that this collaborative effort is now in jeopardy.

Challenging NCERT's defence based on Intellectual Property Rights, the academicians argued that while NCERT has the right to publish the textbooks as originally produced, they are not at liberty to make substantive changes and then attribute the revised text to the same contributors and Chief Advisors.

A full text of the letter sent to the NCERT director is below with the signatories.

14 June 2023

Dear Professor Dinesh Prasad Saklani,

We have been following with growing concern, and increasing alarm, the public discussion on NCERT’s unilateral attempts to modify and revise textbooks produced collaboratively by scholars from across the country. We, the undersigned, have participated in these efforts to produce the textbooks in political science. Through these textbooks we hoped to explain to school students the ideals of our freedom struggle, the aspirations of the constituent assembly, the principles of our constitutional order, the role of leaders and movements, the nature of our federal system, the promising and dynamic qualities of our democratic republic, key episodes of contemporary politics in India, and the global developments and theoretical principles of political science in this uniquely Indian context.

The political scientists who contributed to this effort came from multiple perspectives and had varied ideological positions. Yet we were able to work together to produce what is, by any measure, a truly remarkable set of school textbooks in political science. The pedagogic strategy that was adopted was, over several months, collectively deliberated upon and agreed to.

We are now given to believe that this creative collective effort is in jeopardy.

NCERT is now making changes to the textbooks. These involve deletions of sentences and removal of some sections (even chapters) considered unacceptable with emphasis given to others considered desirable. The decision of who decides what is unacceptable and what is desirable has been kept rather opaque, violating the core principles of transparency and contestation that, we believe, underlies academic knowledge production.

In this regard we wish to state the following:

1. The political science textbooks were produced after considerable deliberation on substantive and pedagogic issues between contributors and Chief Advisors.

2. Political scientists from colleges, universities, and schools, from across India, accepted this responsibility of producing a set of engaging and accessible textbooks for school students in the discipline of political science. Considerable professional time was devoted to achieving this goal.

3. Drafts of texts produced were sent to the Chief Advisors who, after review, sent them back to contributors to consider the suggestions and make revisions if they felt them to be necessary. This consultative protocol was at the core of the process because it underscored the academic autonomy and freedom of the scholars who were involved.

4. In addition to the issues raised of (i) academic freedom, (ii) pedagogic integrity, and (iii) institutional propriety, we also seek your clarifications on the question of Intellectual Property Rights which you have claimed to defend your revisions. You say that NCERT has the IPR on the textbooks. This we accept. It can publish the textbooks as they were produced under the guidance of the Chief Advisors in as many copies and editions that it wishes. But it is not at liberty to make substantive changes, minor or major, and then claim that the same set of contributors and Chief Advisors continue to be responsible for the revised text as it now stands.

In addition to the risk of the revisions changing the meaning and saying the opposite of what was intended by the contributors, is the principle of consulting them on changes to be made, or at least consulting the Chief Advisors who piloted this collective effort, and getting their approval. Since there are several substantive revisions of the original texts, making them thereby different books, we find it difficult to claim that these are the books we produced and to associate our names with them.

With great regret at this turn of events we, therefore, request you to delete our names, as members of the Textbook Development Committee, from the political science textbooks of NCERT.

With best wishes,

1. Muzaffar Assadi, Dean Faculty of Arts and Professor, University of Mysore

2. Kanti Prasad Bajpai, National University, Singapore

3. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata

4. Rajeev Bhargava, Hon Fellow, CSDS, Delhi

5. Dwaipayan Bhattacharya, CPS, JNU, New Delhi

6. Navnita Chadha Behera, University of Delhi

7. Lajwanti Chatani, MS University, Baroda

8. Rajeshwari Deshpande, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune

9. Peter Ronald deSouza, Former Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.

10. Rajesh Dev, Delhi University

11. Akhil Ranjan Dutta, Gauhati University, Guwahati

12. Alex M George, Independent Researcher, Kerala

13. Malini Ghose, Nirantar, Center for Gender and Education, New Delhi

14. Niraja Gopal Jayal, Former Professor, Centre for Law & Governance, JNU, New Delhi

15. Manish Jain, School of Education Studies, Dr B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi

16. Shefali Jha, CPS, JNU, New Delhi

17. Kailash K. K., University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

18. Manjari Katju, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

19. Shailendra Kharat, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune

20. Sanjay Lodha, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Governance and Social Sciences, Jaipur

21. Siddharth Mallavarapu, Shiv Nadar University, NOIDA

22. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, CPR, New Delhi

23. Nivedita Menon, JNU, New Delhi

24. Radhika Menon, Dept of Education, Mata Sundari College, Uni. of Delhi

25. Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Calcutta University, Kolkata

26. Vipul Mudgal, Common Cause, New Delhi

27. Sajal Nag, Assam University, Silchar

28. Aditya Nigam, formerly Professor, CSDS, Delhi

29. Priyavadan Patel, formerly Professor, MS University, Baroda

30. Chaitra Redkar, IISER, Pune

31. Sandeep Shastri, Academic Director, NITTE, Bengaluru

32. Ujjwal Kumar Singh, University of Delhi

33. K.C. Suri, Distinguished Professor, GITAM (deemed University), Visakhapatnam