SC stay off, NCERT books hit market

The NCERT today came out with the much-awaited and much-debated social sciences book Contemporary India for Class IX and the Hindi books for...

The NCERT today came out with the much-awaited and much-debated social sciences book Contemporary India for Class IX and the Hindi books for classes I, III, VI, IX and XI.

The books could be printed only after the Supreme Court vacated the stay order on the new social science, history and Hindi books based on the National Curriculum Framework and gave a judgment in its favour by rejecting a petition alleging saffronisation of education.

The next lot, including the Social Science textbook for Class VI (Indian and the World) and the history books for Class XI, is scheduled to be out tomorrow and in the second week of October respectively.

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NCERT officials said, ‘‘With the release, all books meant for classes I, III, VI, IX and XI will now be in the market.’’ But grumblings against the Social Science book Contemporary India for Class IX, are already being heard. It condenses in 157 pages modern history, civics, geography and economics — subjects earlier taught separately.

‘‘It is a disgrace the NCERT is bringing out books with factual errors ,’’ said Arjun Dev, former NCERT professor . The overall editor of the book, Prof B.S. Parekh, seemed to have overlooked the fact that Vasco Da Gama’s name is spelt wrongly on the first page. That Madagascar, an island in the eastern coast Africa, has been transplanted to Arabian Sea — just a few errors in a book printed in a hurry and written in great secrecy.