“NCERT’s thoughtless blunder”

The NCERT,an autonomous organisation under union education ministry is the main school curriculum designing authority in India for children taking exams under the CBSE.Its textbooks receive scrutiny by lakhs of students across the country. Education boards in many states and private schools also use their course material. The unsavoury controversy has reignited a debate on  Executive-Judiciary tussle. After objections were raised by members of the legal fraternity, the Supreme Court of India took suo motu cognizance of the matter and issued notices to top bureaucrats  to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court for including the "offending chapter".

The moot point is :Why single out judiciary and ignore rampant corruption that prevails in other dectors of bureaucracy,the local bodies,educational,banking etc? Worse, why corrupt the young minds of class 8 by teaching them about corruption in judiciary?

 The CJI’s anger is justified.He has rightly questioned how such content could be published without the judiciary’s “permission.”

NCERT’s statement  expressing "regret" over what it called an "error in judgement" that had "inadvertently crept" into the chapter, is not convincing.Responsibility for serious lapse should be fixed after judiciary-monitored inquiry and heads must roll.The process of syllabus designing should be transparent involving stakeholders’ consultation.

A K Saxena (Former civil servant)