Objectionable content against Islam, Muslims in B.Ed course book: author apologizes for “mistake”
Mangaluru: Objectionable content against Islam and Muslims found in the syllabus book of B.Ed. course “Mowlya Darshana The Essence of Value Education” stirred controversy on local social media platforms after pictures of the said content went viral.
The book authored by BR Ramachandraiah is reportedly taught in B.Ed. courses across various universities including Mangalore University. The content of the book, pictures of which are going viral, depicts descriptions of Islam in an objectionable way saying Islam wants Jihad and War while the general public wants peace, harmony, and kindness.
Several Educationists and activists expressed their anguish over the content that is being taught to the budding teachers who will go on to teach students at various levels.
“No one can doubt that there are plurality of ideals and plurality of values as well as cultures. For Muslims Allah is “uberall”, Islam is the only ideal. The general public want kindness, peace and harmony. Islam wants Jihad war and Dar-Ul-Islam,” one of the article about plurality in the book read.
“We believe in multiple values that are objective and these multiple values are essence of humanity. Unfortunately, for Muslims the Koran in everything which contains subjective fancies of MohaMad. Muslims are able to tolerate only koranic values and able to live by it. And it is damaging and this desert originated, outdated values are detestable. Muslims are indoctrinated with false information and false belief. For Muslims one set of values is true and this parochialism results in totalitarianism and hostility. Their inflamed notion that only Islamic values is true and other values are to be condemned in a form of pathological extremism. This Islamic parochialism has led, to unimaginable horrors. Muslims claim that Islamic values are superior is totally incompatible with today’s pluralism and multiculturalism,”(sic) some of the contents in the book further read.
Among those who reacted to the development was Educationist Niranjanaradhya VP and said the content was highly objectionable. He added that the author was targeting a particular section of the society with an ulterior motive.
“This is highly objectionable. The irony is that the author himself is parochial in his understanding and approach while talking about parochialism. He is clearly targeting a particular section of the Indian society with an ulterior motive of targeting and branding them as fundamentalists. Parochialism is in all sections and religions and that need to be addressed as a whole but not with the intention of only pointing a particular section with a hidden agenda of partisan,” Niranjanaradhya told Vartha Bharati.
Popular Front of India (PFI) also condemned the addition of objectionable contents in the book that is taught to B.Ed. course and blamed the BJP government for manipulating the education system by including Islamophobic content in the syllabus. The organization also called for criminal cases against the author and publishers of the books.
Speaking to Vartha Bharati over a phone call, the author BR Ramachandraiah, went on record to admit to the “mistake” on his part for authoring the content and apologized for the same. He added that the content has been withdrawn from the further publications of the book.
Ramachandraiah who initially denied having any such content in his book against any particular community, later said “It was our mistake and we are sorry for the content, this should not have published in the first place,” the author told Vartha Bharati after the pictures of the content that are going viral were shared with him.
“We have removed the content from the book in further publications. I admit it was wrong but it was not meant to be there to spread negativity. It was explaining the plurality of all the religions. But the whole chapter of the explanation of plurality of the religions has been taken down from further publications of the book,” he said.
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Board exams twice a year from 2025: MoE asks CBSE to work out logistics, no plan for semesters
New Delhi, Apr 26: The Ministry of Education has asked the CBSE to work out logistics for conducting board exams twice a year from the 2025-26 academic session, according to sources.
The plan for introducing a semester system has been ruled out, they said.
The ministry and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold consultations with school principals next month for conducting board exams twice a year, the sources said.
The CBSE is currently in the process of working out the modalities of how will the academic calendar be structured to accommodate another set of board exams without impacting the undergraduate admission schedule, they said.
"The ministry has asked the CBSE to work on the logistics of how will board exams be conducted twice a year. The board is working out the modalities and a consultation will be organised next month with school principals," a source said.
"The idea being explored is to conduct two editions of the board exams at the end of the year from the 2025-26 academic session but the modalities still need to be worked out. However, there is no plan to implement the semester system," the source added.
The ministry's initial plan was to introduce biannual board exams from the 2024-25 academic session, however, it has been pushed back by a year.
The new national curriculum framework (NCF), prepared by the Union government-appointed national steering company which was led by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, proposed a semester system for students of classes 11 and 12.
The framework, which was released by the ministry in August last year, also proposed that the students be given the option to write their board exams twice a year.
"The CBSE right now is brainstorming on the schedule so students can get maximum benefit and the goal of making board exams stress-free can be achieved. However, logistics is a challenge which needs to be addressed, conducting exams is tiresome so the plan has to be flawless," the source said.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last October told PTI in an interview that appearing for board exams twice a year won't be mandatory for students.
"The students will have the option of appearing for the (class 10 and 12 board) exams twice a year just like the engineering entrance exam JEE. They can choose the best score… but it will be completely optional, no compulsion," he had said.
However, this is not the first attempt at reforming board exams. The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) was introduced for Class 10 in 2009 but was revoked in 2017 and the board reverted to the old model of year-end exams.
The board exams for classes 10 and 12 were also split into two terms during the Covid pandemic as a one-time measure, but the old format of year-end exams resumed this year.
