It’s ?istory, but not a? we know it: Gujarat schools left red-faced ?s textbooks claim Japan ‘l?unched a nuclear ?ttack ?n US’ By DARSHAN DESAI Pub?i?hed: l?n tr? em 23:24 GMT, 16 June 2014 | Updated: 23:24 GMT, 16 June 2014 e-mail View comments Mahatma Gandhi was assassinat?d on October 30, If you cherished this post?ng and you would like to receive much more information with regards to l?n tr? em kind?y stop by our own web-?age. 1948. J?pan launched a nucle?r attack on the United States during World War II. A new country named ‘Islamic Islamab?d’ was constituted after Partition with its capital at ‘Khyber Ghat’ in the H?ndu K?sh mountains.
All South Indians are ‘Madrasis’. These ?ren’t examples of bloomers from s?m? third-rate tou?ist guide?ook, but gems from history in social science textbooks that have be?n fed to 50,000 Class 6-8 students of government-run ?nglish-medi?m schools in Gujarat. The t?xtbook? were put together by a panel of experts from the Gujarat Council of Educat?onal Research and Training (GCERT) and Gujarat State Bo?rd fo? School T??t?ooks (GSBST), who decide t?e ?urriculum.
?hese were the same textbooks in which a chapter on the life and times of Prim? Minister Narendra ?odi was proposed, only to be shot ?own by the BJP ?ea?er hims?lf. The state government ha? woken up and ap?ointed a panel of experts drawn from private schoo?s to review and revi?e t?ese textbooks. Official sources say new and revise? textbooks will be out in the mar?et ?n t?me for the new academic s?ssion. The error-ridden books have, however, been used to teach impressionable students till now. Mi?takes and bloome?s weren’t the only p?oblems with the textbooks. Instances of what social sc?entist Achy?t Yagnik calls the “intellectual poverty” of the textbooks’ anchors abound.
The cre?tion of stereotypes seems to be an aim. Accord?ng t? the ?lass 8 Social Science textbook: “People in east India wear clothes above ankle as there is more rainfall. Ladies wear sari in a peculiar manner.” It sa?s the majority of people ?n eastern India reside in “houses made of wood and bamboo”. The textbook goes on to say: “Idli and dosa are famous in south India. Madrasi food is very famous.” In anot?er reference, it goes on to club the Rath Yatra of Puri with South Indian festivals, including Onam and Diwali in Kerala.
English hasn’t been s?ared either. Here’s a sample from the C?ass 6 textbook: “You might have heared, read and seen that the Earth is round. Whereas, you stay on the Earth, you can not come to know the shape of Earth; because the Earth is too much vast. “Why we do not feel that th? Earth is round? Is the Earth really To whom it is like? Just imagine, round? The Moon-uncle is t?lling. Come on to my surf?ce and see from the edge.
The travel?ers of the space had taken the photographs of t?e Earth from the spac? – see ?t.” Translated from Gujarati Unbelievable? Here’s another: “The man found grains like wheat, jav etc. automatically in the various part of India’s soil. So the people of ?ndia (in that time) c?llected and preserved that grains for food. They met each other often and sex children f68 often and often, and so ‘So?ialism’ increased. We ?re gett?ng the residues of premature mankind since 20 lacs y?ars ago in India.” That these textbooks are translated from their Gujarati equivalents, and poorly at that, stands out.
