‘Absurd protest, no relevance’: NCERT’s former Director J.S. Rajput dismisses criticism over inclusion of RSS-linked members in panel (IANS Interview)

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) former Director J.S. Rajput on Thursday defended the body amid reports that members with links to the RSS have been included in a panel for a new Political Science textbook, describing the criticism as an “absurd protest” with no relevance.

Speaking to IANS, Rajput said that an individual’s association with the RSS should not automatically determine how their academic credentials or work are viewed.

“If somebody is associated with the RSS, it does not mean that he is ideologically bound by its strategies or perceptions. An academic is an academic, and an honest academic is one who undertakes his academic work with all sincerity. In any case, why should people be so upset about some people associated with RSS being included?” he said.

Drawing a comparison with the past, Rajput said ideological affiliations had not always triggered similar objections in the field of education.

“Earlier, communists used to write NCERT textbooks. Did they protest at that time? This is an absurd protest and has no relevance. NCERT has a huge number of academic staff members. It is their responsibility to decide what the final outcome will be,” he said.

Rajput stressed that the ultimate responsibility for the content of NCERT textbooks rests with the institution’s faculty and academic experts, even if external experts contribute inputs during the preparation process.

“The responsibility of NCERT is to ensure that if there are any ideological issues, they are properly dealt with. Outsiders may give inputs, but it is for the faculty and academicians to decide what will finally go into the books. For NCERT, every child is a child of India. Every teacher is a teacher who is shaping the future of India,” he told IANS.

Responding to concerns over whether NCERT has lost public trust as curriculum changes are increasingly viewed through a political lens, the former Director rejected the suggestion and said the institution continues to enjoy widespread public acceptance.

“Many people may not like it, but NCERT is gaining more and more public acceptability. Meet any IAS officer in the age group of 30, 40 or 50, and they will say, ‘I salute NCERT because of NCERT textbooks I am in this position.’ Whenever I travel, and people come to know that I was the NCERT Director, I receive tremendous respect from everybody. So NCERT has not lost its public trust. Yes, there have been controversies,” he said.

Recalling a controversy during his tenure, Rajput referred to a recommendation made in the curriculum regarding education about religions.

“I had made a recommendation in the curriculum that the basics of all religions must be taught to every child. The exact sentence was, ‘Children must be made aware of the basics of all religions.’ The second sentence was, ‘They must know the commonalities and learn to respect differences,’” he said.

According to Rajput, the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court, which, he said, endorsed the underlying objective.

“This went to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court ruled even more strongly than we had done, saying that this is the best panacea for strengthening secularism in this country,” he said.

Rajput also commented on reported anomalies involving the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the need to strengthen systems for conducting examinations. He said the effectiveness of any examining body ultimately depends on the integrity and competence of the people entrusted with important responsibilities.

“Unless and until the NTA or any examining body is able to identify the right persons, these things will continue to happen. In this regard, I have a learning experience. Dr D.S. Kothari, one of the most distinguished educationists, used to say — around 1974-75, when I started attending higher-level meetings — that India needs three things: S, T and P — science, technology, and production,” he said.

Rajput said Kothari later revised his formulation after recognising what he believed was a decline in moral values.

“After about 10 years, the same Dr D.S. Kothari changed it. He said India needs S, T, P and G — science, technology, production and goodness. He said, ‘I was wrong when I said only three. I had not anticipated that values were deteriorating. Morally, we are going down, and therefore, I have added G.’ G is Gandhi. Gandhi represents the values of the freedom struggle,” Rajput said.

He argued that institutional reforms alone cannot prevent failures unless the people involved are committed to their responsibilities.

“Unless and until you have people who are committed to the nation and who realise the importance of their role, you will continue to have these failures. You need commitment. Preparing a question paper — I have done it at various levels — requires a lot of mental exercise,” he said.

On the process of scrutinising textbook drafts before publication and whether such reviews should be made public, Rajput said there was no requirement to disclose internal reviews.

“There is no need to make those reviews public. What is public are the textbooks, the books and other teaching materials. Scrutiny takes place at various levels. People are invited, they sit together and write chapters. Then there is a coordinator from the internal faculty. If he wishes, he can call some other person as well. Then it is finalised,” he said.

Asked about safeguards needed to prevent any political ideology from dominating school textbooks, Rajput said NCERT should focus on identifying competent academicians who are committed to their discipline and to the education of young Indians.

“This is something that, when I was in charge of all this, I studied by looking at several countries and what happens there. I am not a history person; I am a professor of physics. Now, the history that China writes will certainly not be liked by Japan, and what Japan writes will not be liked by China. This is bound to happen,” he said.

“The best thing is that NCERT should try — and at least during my tenure, we tried — to find an academician who is devoted to academics. He may have other interests, such as going to films or playing badminton, but he should be committed to his profession, competent in his field and committed to the young people of India,” Rajput added.

On whether correcting perceived historical omissions could itself result in new omissions, he said historical distortions can occur when authors are excessively constrained by ideology and that new research must be taken into account.

“Historical aberrations occur if the author is very much ideologically constrained. They have to be corrected. Around 2000, I went to two very eminent historians without asking my minister, on my own. I told them, ‘Sir, you have written the history book for us. We are proud of you. There are many suggestions. After you wrote the books some 30 years ago, there has been new research, excavations and new technologies. New facts have come up,” he said.

–IANS

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