School textbooks revision will be done this year itself: Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa on Thursday said revision of school textbooks will be done this year itself in the interest of the students.
He said the matter will be soon placed before the Cabinet to seek its consent.
The Congress in its poll manifesto had promised to undo the changes made to school textbooks when the BJP was in power, and had also promised to scrap National Education Policy (NEP).
"The Chief Minister is personally interested in this, it was also clearly mentioned in our manifesto -- of which I was the vice president -- that we will revise the textbook in the interest of the students. Same thing will stand. As we are implementing the guarantees, in the same way in my department we will fulfill what he had said," Bangarappa said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "There are reports in the media that we may not revise this year as the textbooks have already reached the students. No we will do it this year itself by introducing whatever necessary as a supplementary. There is such a system and it has been done several times in the past. We have already begun the work in this regard."
It is also being ensured that there is no burden on the students because of this, he said adding that as "It is still the initial days of the academic year, and as students wouldn't have entered the textbook curriculum yet, this is the time we have to do whatever we have to, of course those chapters (to be omitted) will be there in the textbooks, but teachers will be directed what to teach and what not to."
Noting that based on the experts advice what is necessary for the students will be kept and the unnecessary would be omitted, the Minister without revealing much said, as we are talking, the discussions and meetings are going on in this regard.
"After all these processes are completed, with the guidance of the Chief Minister it will be placed before the Cabinet and once it is passed there, it will be sent to students, keeping their interest in mind," he said.
Bangarappa indicated that the proposal on the textbook revision will be placed before the Cabinet probably when it meets next.
He however did not wish to go into details, when asked about reports stating that plans are on to remove some lessons from textbooks introduced by the previous BJP government, including one on RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar.
There was a textbook controversy during the previous BJP regime, with demands by opposition Congress and some writers for sacking the then textbook review committee chief Rohith Chakratirtha for allegedly "saffronising" school textbooks by including the speech of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as a chapter, and omitting chapters on key figures like freedom fighters, social reformers, and the writings of noted literary figures.
There were also allegations of erroneous content on 12th century social reformer Basavanna and certain factual errors in the textbooks, including accusations of disrespecting Raashtra Kavi' (national poet) Kuvempu and distortion of the state anthem penned by him. Initially the allegations were refuted but subsequently rectifications were made in some cases.
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Health ministry reviews Mpox situation, risk of large outbreak currently low for India
New Delhi, Aug 17: There are currently no reported cases of Monkeypox in India even though cautionary measures will be put in place to prevent and control the spread of the disease, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.
At a review meeting held during the day, although the possibility of a few imported cases being detected in the coming weeks was not entirely ruled out, it was assessed that the risk of a large outbreak with sustained transmission is low for India at present.
Since WHO first declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in 2022, a total of 30 cases were detected in India with the last case being reported this March, the health ministry said in a statement.
There are no reported cases of Monkeypox in India as of now, it said.
The situation is being monitored closely by the ministry, the statement said.
In view of the World Health Organization (WHO) again declaring Monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern on August 14, a detailed review of the situation and the preparedness was taken by Union Health Minister J P Nadda at the meeting with the senior officials of his ministry.
It was decided that as a matter of abundant caution, certain measures such as sensitizing the health units at all airports, seaports and ground crossings; readying the testing laboratories (32); gearing up health facilities for detecting, isolating and managing any case are put in place.
At the meeting, it was noted that Monkeypox infections are usually self-limiting lasting between 2-4 weeks and patients generally recover with supportive management.
The transmission requires prolonged close contact with an infected case and is generally through the sexual route, direct contact with body/lesion fluid, or contaminated clothing/linen of an infected person, the statement said.
The WHO's declaration of 2022 was revoked in May 2023. Since 2022, WHO has globally reported 99,176 cases and 208 deaths due to Monkeypox from 116 countries.
A joint monitoring group meeting under the chairmanship of the Director General of Health Services consisting of experts from relevant fields was held on Friday to review the situation.
The meeting was attended by experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), WHO, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Centre for Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Directorate General of Health Services, central government hospitals, All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS and others.
