Vajpayee won’t budge: Centre just wants to correct history

Lashing out at the Opposition for criticising his Government’s initiative in making changes in history syllabus, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee today said the Government had no ‘‘vested interest’’ and the effort was to ensure that students got the right picture about past events.

‘‘We are trying to correct history. All these years, they were engaged in distorting it. The idea of rewriting history textbooks was not laced with any vested interests, as being alleged by the Opposition,’’ he said after laying the foundation stone of Vivekananda Education Society’s Hashu Advani Memorial Complex at Chembur in north-eastern Mumbai.

Calling for more investments from the private sector in education, Vajpayee emphasised the need for private sector support and partnership to achieve the goal of cent per cent literacy. The Government has been facing financial constraints in its efforts to eradicate illiteracy and it was time for the private sector participation to meet the changing needs of education, he added.

Vajpayee lauded the efforts by late Hashu Advani who set up the Vivekananda Education Society 40 years ago. The society now runs over 24 institutions and provides education to 18,000 students.