The pedagogical strategies suggested in the proposed curriculum frame seek to end the tyranny of a single, official textbook in all subjects.

Apoorvanand, Delhi.

The act of vandalism by the ABVP, the student wing of the R.S.S. at the Vigyan Bhawan, where the CABE was meeting to discuss the revised draft of the National Curriculum Frame is highly condemnable and should be deplored by all who believe in democratic means of discussion and negotiation .That they not only broke the furniture of the Vigyan Bhawan but took down the valuable paintings and art works done by some very eminent artists and destroyed them shows that intention of the ABVP members was to disrupt the meeting which had not even started when they entered the meeting premises. In the melee Shri Habib Tanvir who was going to attend the meeting fell in a pit and broke his leg and had to undergone a major surgery. The injury caused to him is a matter of serious concern and the ABVP is squarely responsible for this.

The act of arson by ABVP was part of a larger design is evident from the statements of Sh. M.M. Joshi two days before the CABE meeting that the BJP members of the CABE would oppose the revised curriculum draft. Their refusal to participate in any discussion is again a proof of their distrust in democratic discussion and argument. When in power, they tried to stifle the dissenting voices by using official machinery, when out of power they take recourse to muscle power to stop any democratic discourse. It is high time all the democratic forces raise their voice against the violence of these forces.
What is most baffling is that these vandals were allowed to enter a high security area like the Vigayn Bhawan and indulge in arson where 3 central ministers and many state ministers were present along with many prominent civil society members.

The allegation of the BJP and the RSS outfits that the purpose of the revised curriculum frame is to restore the pre NCF 2000 history books is a classic case of propagating falsehood to disorient the whole discussion and put it in a wrong track.

The proposed curriculum draft seeks to effect a paradigm shift in the philosophy of school education to make it less burdensome and more meaningful and relevant for the school going children would necessitate a drastic revision in the pedagogy prevalent in the Indian schools which includes an entirely new approach to the role of the textbooks in classrooms. The fact that the new curriculum draft makes a very strong recommendation that the teachers should not content themselves with only one textbook and should be able to use many books to expose the students to different approaches means that the schools are not to be treated as spaces to spread some official knowledge. The aim of school education is to enable the students to examine critically different ideologies obtaining in the society with a rational mind and with a view to ensure that knowledge makes the society more democratic, more committed to the ideas of equality and justice and more open to the ways of discussion and negotiation to resolve differences peacefully.
The pedagogical strategies suggested in the proposed curriculum frame seek to end the tyranny of a single, official textbook in all subjects. Multiplicity of reading material is what it argues for. It asks the teachers and the education planners to help students develop a questioning mind and a rational attitude. They are not treated as consumers of some pre cooked knowledge but are seen as constructors of knowledge. It , therefore , in radical departure from the earlier curriculum documents, reposes its faith in the agency of the student.

The effort of the proposed curriculum draft to democratize the school space asks for an open discussion on the pedagogy involved in various subject areas like Mathematics, Language, Science, social Sciences. History, however crucial in may be, is only one of these subject areas. To reduce the debate on school education to History is a sinister attempt by certain political elements to deprive our school goers of a meaningful schooling experience. The new curriculum draft privileges the experiences of Women, Tribals, Dalits, Schedule Castes and other marginalized societies which is not acceptable to the advocates of CUTURAL NATIONALISM.

We call upon the members of the civil society to enter this debate on the nature of School education and see to it that the system to ensure an education which is relevant, meaningful and of interest to the children of India, is humane and helps to promote peace is in place and State agencies fulfill their commitment to make it a reality.