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Journalism of Courage
Amid a controversy over a map in the new class 8 social science textbook that shows parts of Rajasthan as having been under the Marathas, the NCERT has constituted a committee to “examine feedback.”
In a statement issued on Thursday, NCERT said: “At present, NCERT has received feedback about the educational content in a few textbooks. Hence a committee is being constituted having senior experts, as per its established practice. This committee will examine the feedback in light of the available evidences and submit its report at the earliest possible.”
Although the statement makes no direct reference to the recent controversy, it comes after Chaitanya Raj Singh of the erstwhile princely state of Jaisalmer said in a post on X on Monday that the map on the extent of the Maratha empire in the class 8 social science textbook “depicts Jaisalmer as a part of the then Maratha Empire, which is historically misleading, factually baseless, and deeply objectionable.”
He wrote that there are “no authentic historical sources” that mention “any Maratha dominance, invasion, taxation, or authority” over Jaisalmer.
The NCERT said in its statement on Thursday: “It is a well-established practice at NCERT that whenever substantial feedback or suggestions are received regarding the content or pedagogy of a textbook in a particular subject, a committee is constituted. This committee comprises high-level domain experts from reputed institutions and faculty members from the relevant subject area, with the convenorship of the Head of the Curriculum Department. The committee carefully deliberates on the matter, makes evidence-based decisions regarding the content or pedagogy, and recommends appropriate actions accordingly at the earliest.”
New textbooks in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023, are being developed by the NCERT. New books for classes 1 to 8 have been released so far. The latest ones for class 8 were released last month.
Responding to the map on the Maratha empire and objection to it, Michel Danino, chairperson of the NCERT’s curricular area group for the new social science textbooks, said in a note on Wednesday that “further research is on to confirm that our map’s boundaries are incorrect”.
“If they are, a revised map will be prepared based on the best information available, and submitted for future editions of the textbook,” he wrote, adding: “We are fully open to error correction.”
He wrote that the chapter was prepared in consultation with two experts on the Maratha period, and nowhere in the chapter (including the map) is Jaisalmer mentioned.
Danino added that the map was drawn on the basis of maps published earlier, and “to the best of our knowledge, no objection was raised against such maps, which have long been in the public domain.”
He added that the maps include not only areas directly under Maratha control, but also states paying tributes/taxes, or at times under some agreement with the Marathas.
“While such maps freeze territories at one point in time, the actual context was of course much more complex, fluid, and fast evolving. A single map cannot encapsulate the whole story of the Maratha empire,” he wrote.
Pointing to the “tight timeline” given for the preparation of new textbooks, he wrote it hardly allows for original research in every relevant primary source, and contributors sometimes need to depend on secondary sources that are considered authentic and scholarly.
While the new class 7 textbook contains a caveat that the borders on a map are approximate, this was not included in the class 8 book, and Danino wrote in his note that the team should have used the same caveat for all historical maps in this book as well.
