SIO said the curriculum is framed in a way that promotes Hindutva by eventually concealing the histories of the marginalized and the indigenous communities and that it downplays and misrepresents the role of leaders from the below.
Shalini S, TwoCircles.net
Students Islamic Organization (SIO) of India has called the Learning Outcome-based Curriculum Framework “an attempt at saffronisation of Indian education” and termed the prescribed History syllabus as “unhistorical.”
Following the major syllabus reduction of CBSE announced by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Minister Ramesh Nishank last year that received severe criticism from academic scholars and activists, University Grants Commission (UGC) has now released a Learning Outcome-based Curriculum Framework (LOCF) for B. A History, Undergraduate Program.
Reacting to the same, Mohammad Salman Ahmad, National President, Students Islamic Organization (SIO) of India has called it a “blatant attempt at saffronisation of the syllabus and distortion of History”
The SIO said that the draft derides the “basic principle of Historiography by presenting mythological figures and fabled events as a part of Indian History.”
SIO said the curriculum is framed in a way that promotes Hindutva by eventually concealing the histories of the marginalized and the indigenous communities, and that it downplays and misrepresents the role of leaders from the below.
SIO noted that the inclusion of the “unhistorical” syllabus as a dubious past exists only in the Hindutva mind.
“The draft curriculum provides disproportionate importance to Hindu religious literature and presents an uncritical and unhistorical view of ancient Indian civilization and the Vedic period. This preferential bias towards a particular culture to represent all Indian knowledge is unsavoury of our constitutional rights and threatens the plurality of our country” SIO said in a statement.
SIO further said that it is paradoxical that while promoting the autonomy of colleges, “UGC is also coercing the educational institutions across the country on providing a one – size – fits – all curriculums.”
“UGC’s undue interference will have a detrimental political impact on the minds of young learners and leaves them to question the fate of Secularism in India. These sweeping diktats are contrary to the spirit of federalism and ideals of academic autonomy,” Mohammad Salman Ahmad added.