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The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry announced that there is no method to evaluate the quality of textbooks by private publishers. The ministry has drawn a blank in its ability to evaluate private publishers’ textbooks.
“The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has no mandate to prescribe or recommend the textbooks of private publishers in its affiliated schools,” Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State for HRD, said in a reply to a question at the Lok Sabha.
Read | CBSE school textbooks by private publishers to be reviewed
Amid debates about the need to scrutinise textbooks used in schools, the minister said that the government is firm on promoting National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks in CBSE schools. The minister’s comments come a number of textbooks by private publishers were found to contain questionable content.
Recently, an environmental science textbook came into the light of controversy when a passage was found describing the process of killing kittens. The book was very descriptive about how, if put in a box without holes, a kitten can die. This caused a stir among animal rights activists.
Earlier, a sociology textbook was also caught in the cusp of debates. IT contained a passage on the reason for dowry being a girl’s “ugliness” and disability.
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