New Delhi: A panel on social sciences constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has recommended replacing the name India with “Bharat” in school textbooks, the committee’s chairperson CI Isaac said on Wednesday.
According to Isaac, the panel has suggested replacing the name ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in the textbooks, introducing “classical history” instead of “ancient history” in the curriculum as well as including the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) in the syllabus for all subjects.
“The committee has unanimously recommended that the name ‘Bharat’ should be used in textbooks for students across classes. We have also recommended introducing ‘classical history’ instead of ‘ancient history’ in the textbooks,” Isaac told PTI.
He said the committee has also recommended highlighting “Hindu victories” in various battles in the textbooks.
“Our failures are presently mentioned in the textbooks. But our victories over the Mughals and sultans are not,” said Isaac, who is also a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR).
The NCERT is revising the curriculum of the school textbooks in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The council recently constituted a 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) to finalise the curriculum, textbooks and learning material for these classes.
Other members of the committee include ICHR Chairperson Raghuvendra Tanwar, Vandana Mishra, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Vasant Shinde, former vice-chancellor of the Deccan College Deemed University, and Mamta Yadav, who teaches sociology in a Haryana government school.
