Three-member panel appointed to make changes

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The controversy regarding some portions in the Standard X history textbook is hotting up with the State Government appointing a committee for making changes in the controversial textbook and the pro-CPM Kerala School Teachers’ Association (KSTA) opposing the move to make any changes in the textbook.The Government appointed a committee with former Additional Chief Secretary Babu Paul as chairman, historian M G S Narayanan and former Director of Archives Department S Raimon as members.The committee has been formed following the objections raised by the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) against some remarks in the textbook about Christianity. The primary objection was on the chapter dealing with the Dark Ages of European history.KSTA had urged Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb not to make changes in the textbook. KSTA general secretary M Shajahan said, in a statement here, that some quarters were trying to make changes in the chapters that dealt with Renaissance Movement and Religious Reform Movement in Europe, to safeguard their vested interests.These portions have been included in the Standard IX textbook of the CBSE. It is not proper to argue that they should not be taught in state schools, he said.Kerala Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Union (KPSTU) on Sunday has, however, come out against the move to make changes in the textbook. KPSTU general secretary P Harigovindan said that one of the reasons for the deterioration in the standards was owing to textbooks that were full of controversies.He urged the State Government to put an end to the controversy surrounding the history textbook once and for all.  The national curriculum framework should be implemented in the state, so that the credibility of the general education system in the state is restored.Historian M S Jayaprakash has come out against both those who have come in support and against the textbook. “The same persons who are demanding that the textbooks should not be changed as per the diktats of the KCBC, however, are not willing to depict history of the Dark Ages,” he said.