Textbooks now reflect Indian culture, heritage: Raj school

teachers Bundi (Raj), Aug 28 (PTI) Struggling to familiarisestudents, especially those in rural areas, with European andAmerican themes, teachers in Rajasthan’s Bundi district havewelcomed the change in syllabi by the state government sayingchildren can now easily connect with the Indian settings. Teachers also said the contents were now "far morecomprehensive and convincing" notwithstanding Congressallegations of saffornisation of school textbooks in Rajasthan. "Earlier, the textbooks on English and Social Sciencecarried chapters on European, American and African countries.They were mostly written by English authors and writers," saidSuman Sharma, senior English teacher at a government girl’ssenior secondary school here. She added books, now, carry chapters mostly written byIndian scholars, and the themes and content were of thecountry’s background. Anshul Meena, an English teacher in the same school, said,"English characters, themes and content of the textbooks werehardly identifiable, reflective and pronounceable by governmentschool students, especially by rural ones." Now after the changes, the syllabi are far morecomprehensive and convincing. It really reflects the Indianculture and heritage in true sense, Meena said. Echoing her English counterparts, Mamta Bairwa, a seniorgovernment Social Science teacher, said, "Earlier the subjectsyllabus of Class IX had five books with totally unknown andunfamiliar background. Now the syllabus has been made morecomprehensive and familiar with chapters of Indian theme,background and characters in a single book." Shobha Kanwar, a teacher at Barundan village school here,said the syllabi last year was very complex, hard and withunfamiliar themes from foreign background but now Environment,Social Science books have content of Indian background and thestudents can identify with it. "Now the syllabus content is related to India’s richculture and heritage. Teachers as well as students enjoy itwhile teaching and learning in the class," she said. The government school mathematic teachers have alsowelcomed the incorporation of Vedic Ganeet (Vedic Maths) in thesyllabus. "Vedic Ganeet gives a deep insight into learning currentmathematical equations and helps develop IQ for the same,"Anita Kumari, a government Mathematics teacher, said. The Vedic Ganeet did exist in school syllabus in 2004 and2005 but was later dropped from the syllabus, said Kumari. Rajasthan’s BJP government has faced sharp criticism fromCongress leaders including PCC chief Sachin Pilot and formerchief minister Ashok Gehlot for changes in the syllabi. However, Education Minister Vasudev Devnani had refutedthe allegations saying they (Congress) are only politicizingthe issue and only the content by Indian scholars and notedauthors reflecting the rich culture and heritage of the countryhas been incorporated in the school books syllabus. PTI CORRANB DIP DVDIP