Mumbai, April 26: This year's newly-published SSC textbooks in Maharashtra have depicted a large portion of the border state Jammu and Kashmir out of the country, besides carrying a faulty picture of the national tricolour, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said here on Thursday.
In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he demanded a probe and immediate arrest of those found guilty of this grave faux pas in the Class 10 Geography textbook.
Vikhe-Patil pointed out that these serious errors have come up in the textbooks recently published by the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production & Curriculum Research for the academic year starting 2018.
"In chapter 3, page 24, a map of India is published but it is very erroneous as a large part of Jammu & Kashmir is not shown within the borders of the country," he said in the letter.
Similarly, in chapter 2, page 9, the national flag has been published in which the colour of the Ashoka Chakra is wrong.
He said the textbook had been kept for review in a seminar in Pune sometime ago when former school Principal K.U. Sonawane and others raised serious objections, both oral and written, to make the necessary corrections.
"However, the required changes were not made and the textbooks carry the wrong images of India and the national tricolour, besides many other mistakes which have crept into the book," Vikhe-Patil said.
Seeking complaints against the persons concerned and their immediate arrest, he demanded that after consulting experts, all the mistakes must be corrected and a revised version should be made available for the students from the next academic year.
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DU panel calls for removal of sexuality, caste, religion topics from psychology syllabus: Report
New Delhi: Delhi University’s Standing Committee on Academic Affairs has sparked controversy by sending the psychology department’s syllabus back for revisions, recommending the removal of topics such as sexual orientation, caste, religious identity, and the elective paper “Psychology of Sexuality.”
The move is part of DU’s broader curriculum overhaul in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) framework, as reported by Hindustan Times on Tuesday. The psychology department has been asked to reconsider its syllabus and submit a revised version following deliberations on the committee’s recommendations.
One of the committee's primary suggestions is to completely rewrite the elective paper titled “Psychology of Peace” to incorporate examples from Indian epics such as the Mahabharata.
The standing committee has also expressed objections to the inclusion of discussions on contemporary conflict zones like the Israel-Palestine issue, Kashmir, and India’s North-East. Instead, it suggested that students focus on teachings from the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita to understand concepts of peace and conflict resolution.
A person familiar with the standing committee’s recommendations said another paper, “Relationship Science,” has also been flagged for revision. “We’ve been asked to replace content on nuclear and alternative families with discussions of joint families, and to include more Indian family system literature. The section on dating apps and modern love must be re-examined,” HT quoted the person as saying.
A faculty member from the psychology department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed concerns about the proposed changes, particularly the removal of topics related to discrimination and minority issues, noting, “We are being asked to eliminate topics on discrimination and minorities, even though these are pressing realities for many students and communities. How can psychology ignore negative experiences when it is fundamentally the study of human behaviour?”
Several faculty members have raised questions regarding the rationale behind the recommendations, and discussions are expected to continue in the upcoming academic council meeting scheduled for May 10.
