20090414120 | A Report: Shiksha Bachao Andolan | Column - Atul Bhai Kothari

By Atul Bhai Kothari, on 14-04-2009 14:33

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Published in : Atul Bhai Kothari, Column - Atul Bhai Kothari

By Atul Bhai Kothari

Shiksha Bachao Andolan is active in the field of education seeking to remove distortion from the curriculum and to replace the existing system of education with a system which is inspired by civilizational perspective. Since its inception, the movement has been able to galvanise a large number of educationists, intellectuals, teachers and activists organizing them into actions ranging from intellectual to mass protests. The movement has been ever growing with increasing support from various sections of the society on the issues related to education. One of the biggest achievements of the movement is that it has been able to make education an issue of public concern a central theme in socio-political discourse. The successful efforts made in the last four years by Shiksha Bachao Andolan against the distortions prevalent in education to insult our religion and great personalities are as follows:

The decision on NCERT – After assuming power in the centre the UPA government had imposed NCERT history text books with distorted contents. The movement against it continued for last three years. On 30 January 2008, the Delhi High Court in its verdict ordered to remove 75 portions on which objections were made.

In the similar manner agitation is continuing against the Hindi Text book of NCERT. In both the houses of the parliament the issue was raised. Following it, a committee was set up under the chairmanship of Prof. Yashpal. The committee has sent its recommendations to HRD Ministry but so far these have not been implemented. On the other hand the petition on this is being heard in Delhi High Courts.

In the MA History Text Book of History, IGNOU, objectionable statements were made about Bhagwan Shankar and Hindu gods and goddesses. On agitating against the book, HRD Minister announced its withdrawal and deletion of objectionable passages in the parliament within a week.

The central government ordered to include sex education in the 2007-2008 curriculums. In the wake of the agitation by Shiksha Bachao Andolan, eleven state governments expressed their disagreement to it and stopped its implementation. A committee was instituted by CBSE and NACO to review this distorted curriculum which released a new curriculum on the website. Shiksha Bachao Andolan presented a petition to the Rajya Sabha Petition Committee which was accepted and the issue was heard in seven cities viz. Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Trivendram, Mumbai and Banglore receiving 41,000 petitions. More than 40,000 petitions were against the sex education. The petition committee would present its report in the coming days. Shiksha Bachao Andolan orgainsed a campaign throughout the country in which 4,15,000 signature were collected.

Currently agitation is going on against the text book of Delhi University in which it has been sought to create confusion by distorted writings against Bahgwan Ram, Ma Sita, Shri Laxman and Shri Hanuman. In Delhi University, demonstration and other forms of protests were organized by ABVP and other organizations. Memorandums were given by various organizations to the Vice Chancellor. Demonstration was organized in front of the parliament. Legal notices were served to the Vice Chancellor and the compiler of this text book, Dr. Upendra Singh (Daughter of the PM), from 15 states of the country. Signature campaign was conducted in Delhi University. On the last 15^th March, hundreds of demonstrations were organized in the entire country. Writ petition has been filed in the court. Legal notice has been sent to the Oxford University Press, the original publisher of the contents. The issue has been raised in both houses of the parliament as a result the Vice Chancellor has constituted a committee which will review the contents of the text book and it has been assured that no question would be asked from this section in exams.

Efforts for mass awareness – So far 46 Booklets have been published.Lakhs of pamphlets have been distributed in different languages. More than 750 seminars and discussions have been organized in which more than one lakh fifty thousand people have participated.

The Writer is National Co-Convenor, Shiksha Bachao Andolan