Saturday, February 17, 2007

School books grow up, finally

"Make your own conclusions", say the latest NCERT textbooks on politics after Indian Independence. I wish I had that choice of drawing my own conclusion. How many times, Mrs Santhi Chandrasekhar had asked me to get out of the class because I didn't agree with the book.


1.I was forced to believe that Gandhi and his policies were the lone cause for India's freedom struggle. Infact I knew no one other than Gandhi, Nehru and Bose. Bose was called an extremist; in the contrary he was a pure nationalist. Borrowing words from the British to describe our freedom struggle was the most foolish thing to do.

2. I was persuaded to praise the glory of the Mughal Empire. Akbar was probably worth a mention, not the ones that came before and after.

3. Dravidian history was restricted to Tamil text books and stateboard schools

4. Post-independence India was all about Nehru and his Panchsheel.

5. Ambedkar was glorified in the civics textbooks for the sole reason that he was a Harijan. No mention about the giants that preceeded or even Alladi Krishnaswami who contributed a great deal.

6. Who wanted to know about Alsace and Lorraine when there was little mention about the battle of Panipat and Raja Raja Chola's conquest beyond the Ganges.

What a waste!

8 comments:

Ajay said...

sad but true!

D LordLabak said...

Thamizhan endru sollada thalai nimirndhu nillada. I feel sad when VOC is never mentioned. To run a ship at that period not only required money but also a great deal of will power.

APAM NAPAT said...

Honestly, VOC begged for money in his last few years from Congress, Gandhi and a few others of high positions. I am not sure if he was as patriotic as potrayed by Sivaji Ganesan or just another businessman who was against the British interests. Nevertheless he deserves a mention.

Anonymous said...

'kodi kaatha kumaran' and plenty more have sadly been forgotten. And I'm sure every region has similar forgotten heroes.

APAM NAPAT said...

yaar neenga?

KC! said...

yeaps, actually here (Am sure in the US too), the children are made to learn more practical stuff on the environment and their surroundings. naama thevaye illama yaaro panna thappellam padikarom :))

btw thalaiva, that wasnt meant to be selfpugazhchi in my blog, infact andha angle-la naan yosika kooda illa. Adhai en sonnen-na, edhuku night ellam utkarndhu project pannen (unnecessary arvakolaru), tat is coz my Mom used to threaten me-nu. Grrr

APAM NAPAT said...

usha,
seri okay. naan totala 80 mark vanginaa jaasthi adhunala konjam prick pannithu enakku :-) Freea vidunga.

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