Indian History Congress Says Modifications to Class 12 History Syllabus ‘Simply Unacceptable’
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New Delhi: The Indian History Congress, a major national organisation of Indian historians, has issued a statement calling the recent modifications to the class 12 History syllabus ‘simply unacceptable’.
The statement reads that the organisation, since its very foundation nearly nine decades ago, has remained committed to pursuing the cause of providing an accurate and comprehensive portrayal of the history of this country. Therefore, it is greatly alarmed by the changes in the History syllabus and textbooks that have recently been affected by central official agencies, stating that it will lead to ‘a plainly prejudiced and irrational perception of our past.’
Further, the organisation believes that just like the Bachelor’s syllabus drafted by the University Grants Commission, the same process of misrepresentation has been introduced in the prescribed History textbooks. “These include wholesale omission of the narrative of the Mughal dynasty, which gave India political unity for such a long period, and other deletions of statements that are held to be inconsistent with the narrow communalist formulations favoured by the present regime. Even the narrative of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination has been trifled with,” the statement read.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has revised the Class 12 History curriculum by eliminating the chapters pertaining to the Mughal Empire. As per the updated curriculum, NCERT has removed the chapters and topics related to ‘Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries)’ from the history book ‘Themes of Indian History-Part II’. The new syllabus will be effective from the academic year 2023-24.
The Indian History Congress, in its statement, recalls its effort 20 years ago when it published a volume assessing critically the History textbooks then published by NCERT, pointing out their various errors and misjudgments. They were subsequently withdrawn.
“It is now necessary for all historians, loyal to the rational and scientific nature and purpose of their profession, to stand up and make it clear that such distortions of History as the NCERT has now sought to spread through its deletions and revisions are simply unacceptable,” the statement concluded.
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