NCERT committee's recommendation will not affect textbooks of up to Class 10 in Kerala

KOLLAM: Minister V Sivankutty on Thursday said that the textbooks of classes 1 to 10 in Kerala were prepared by SCERT and hence, the NCERT committee's recommendation to replace 'India' with 'Bharat' will not be applicable to these books.

"A number of higher secondary textbooks are based on the NCERT syllabus. As the students have to participate in national competitive exams, including entrance, the Academic Expert Committee will look into whether changes should be introduced to these books. There is narrow-minded politics in saying that henceforth only the word 'Bharat' should be used in textbooks," the minister said.

"An attempt is being made to saffronise history. When a similar move was made earlier at the national level, Kerala had reacted against it. Kerala responded by publishing additional textbooks for History, Economics, Political Science and Sociology textbooks of classes 11 and 12. Kerala is the only state in India that responded academically in this way. Not only did we say that we did not accept the recommendation, but we responded with action," Sivankutty added.