NCERT panel recommends replacing India with Bharat in school textbooks

He also added that the Committee has proposed that Indian victories should be a big part of the curriculum. “Currently there is no mention of post independence history in NCERT books, so we have suggested that historical events that took place from 1947 till now should also be introduced, and the number of hours allocated for pre-independence can be reduced,” he added.

The Committee has also suggested replacing the ‘ancient history’ with ‘classical period of Indian history’. He also added that the Committee has agreed to add more about Indian Knowledge System in the curriculum to teach more about achievements, history and culture of the country.

The proposed change in NCERT books comes a little after the country witnessed a debate that began in September after the Union government used “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” in the invites sent out for G20 dinner hosted.

Reacting to the uproar that followed this news, NCERT said it is “too premature” to comment on this issue as this is a suggestion by the Committee for which experts are being consulted. “NCERT states that since the development of new syllabus and textbooks is in the process and for that purpose various Curricular Area Groups of domain experts are being notified by the NCERT. So, it is too premature to comment on the news being flashed in the media on the concerned issue,” NCERT tweeted on ‘X’.

Response to the Uproar on the Recommendation of India to be mentioned as Bharat in NCERT’s Textbooks
On the news in media being flashed about changing the name of India into Bharat in all NCERT textbooks,

— NCERT (@ncert) October 25, 2023

Meanwhile, NCERT also initiated the final phase of developing new textbooks by establishing a 19-member committee responsible for aligning “school syllabus, textbooks, teaching and learning materials” with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for Classes 3-12.

Some of the members of this committee are fields medallist Manjul Bhargava, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to PM Bibek Debroy, founding member of the RSS-affiliated Samskrita Bharati Chamu Krishna Shastry, philanthropist Sudha Murty, and singer Shankar Mahadeva.

(More updates to follow)