Kerala's Left Government Sparks Controversy By Reintroducing Deleted NCERT Passages In New Textbooks

The Kerala government announced on Monday (11 September) that it has taken a "unique initiative" by compiling all the portions excluded by the NCERT school textbooks. This has resulted in the creation of a new textbook for students to study and appear for exams.

During a session in the state assembly, Minister Sivankutty responded to a query from the UDF opposition regarding the implementation of the National Education Policy 2023.

Sivankutty highlighted that the National Education Policy 2023 has not been fully accepted across the country. Tamil Nadu has completely rejected it, while Karnataka has agreed to implement only certain portions of the policy.

Furthermore, Minister Sivankutty pointed out that the National Council of Educational Research and Training has removed several important topics from textbooks for classes 11 and 12.

These include the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the alleged role of RSS, portions related to the Mughal rule and empire in India, parts of the Indian freedom struggle, and certain communal riots.

The deleted portions were compiled to create a new textbook, which goes beyond being a simple textbook and serves as a syllabus for students to study and take exams on.

In August of this year, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan released the supplementary textbooks.

During the book release, Vijayan strongly criticised the NCERT for omitting important portions from school textbooks. He believed that this omission was politically motivated, with the intention of fostering a society filled with hatred and animosity.