‘ More Indian culture needed in textbooks’

CULTURE DEBATE

Students can also learn about Indian culture through events and debates, say school principals

MUMBAI: Indian culture is being reflected poorly in the school syllabi across the country, said experts at a seminar held on the 50th golden jubilee of the Nalanda Dance Research Centre, Juhu.

Kanak Rele, the institute’s founder-director, said her faculty is often left aghast while checking the answer-sheets of the post-graduate exams, as the students are unable to name renowned Indian classical dancers. “Indian culture needs to be represented in our education system. This drove us to hold a discussion to draw the government’s attention towards the synergy of education and culture,” said Rele.

Emphatic information on leading Indian authors, poets, cultural reformers, dancers, musicians and painters, among others, needs to be included in textbooks, said Rele.

“In the current syllabi, cultural references are strewn haphazardly. They need to be channelised under the guidance of a central committee,” said Rele, who is a Mohiniyattam exponent.

Seema Buch , principal , Gundecha Education Academy, Kandivli, said the findings are relevant today. “With the focus being on making children competitive with their counterparts across the globe, the emphasis is no longer on ensuring that children must learn about our own cultural heritage,” said Buch.

Buch said that their school has been forced to take efforts to familiarise children with the Indian culture. “We have named our school houses after the four Vedas - Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Yajur Veda and Sama Veda. We also conduct an exhibition titled ‘Introducing India to Indians’ on lateral thinking in the epics, Vedic maths and others,” said Buch.

Some school principals said There is no systematic or planned coverage of aspects of Indian culture in the textbooks Not more than 28% of the information in their curriculum relates to Indian culture. The percentage of coverage varies as per the class Contribution of Indians in any field is not adequately highlighted Classes 1 to 8 Classes 9 to 10

SSC (Marathi medium) Cursory treatment is given to epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata in all the boards, except the CISCE The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board textbooks have references of saint poets such as Tukaram and Eknath, among others, but very scanty references of national-level personalities The textbooks highlight aspects of cultures in central and north India and not that of south and north-eastern parts of India. children don’t need to refer only to textbooks to learn about Indian culture. “Culture cannot be inculcated only through textbooks. It is not necessary to impart it through the curriculum,” said Anjana Prakash,

CBSE

CISCE principal, Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri.

Instead, students can be taught about Indian culture by teaching them our values, organizing events such as debates and event

BASKETBALL

FILM MAKING on topics pertaining to culture, among others, Prakash said, adding, “In the school cultural events, for instance, students can be encouraged to put up classical dance performances.”

The Indian boards have integrated culture into the curriculum, said Vasant Kalpande, former chairperson, Maharashtra state board. “The state board textbooks of English, for instance, have included the words ‘aai’ and ‘baba’ for mother and father. The NCERT textbooks also have words such as ‘maama’ for maternal uncle,” he said.

EXPRESSION SERIES

He said while it is difficult to bring in cultural references in subjects such as science and maths, “the contribution of Indian mathematicians such as Aryabhatta and Ramanujan and various Indian scientists has been included in the textbooks”.

According to Kalpande, it is necessary to strike a balance between culture and academics in textbooks. “Including too much about the Indian culture is not a good idea. We need to develop a broader outlook among students so that they can be global citizens,” he said.

Source | Hindustan Times | 14 October 2015