People's Democracy

SC VERDICT ON CURRICULUM

Differentiate Study Of Religions From Religious Education: SFI

THE Students Federation of India (SFI) has taken strong exception to the peculiar interpretation of the Supreme Court (SC) verdict on the National Curricular Framework for Secondary Education (NCFSE), as made by HRD minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. Soon after the Supreme Court expressed its opinion on the NCFSE, Dr Joshi rushed to claim that the SC verdict endorsed his government’s position and that the union government has no hidden agenda to communalise education.

 To the SFI, study of various religions is certainly not against secularism and is a part of the existing education system. However, the question is of how to organise this study. The SC verdict has made a clear differentiation between the study of religions on the one hand and religious education on the other. The SC cautioned the government that “there is a potent danger of religious education being perverted by educational authorities whosoever may be in power by imparting religious instructions in which they have faith and belief.” The judgement also said educationists should take care that in teaching religions, there is a possibility of indoctrination or brainwashing of the children and thus of curbing their inquisitiveness and freethinking in the name of religion. In fact, the SC verdict obliges the government to follow the secular principles lay down by the constitution. But, the SFI pointed out, Dr M M Joshi has no respect for secularism and is committed to the RSS that wants to convert India into a theocratic Hindu Rashtra. As Dr Joshi says he upholds the SC verdict and secularism, the SFI has demanded that he must clarify his position on the concept of Hindu Rashtra.

  As for the NCFSE itself, the SFI says it is a perspective document. The allegation of communalisation of education by the HRD ministry has been raised in the background of the changes in syllabus and textbooks which the HRD ministry has been trying to push through. The emphasis laid by the NCFSE on value education and religion further compounds the apprehensions in this regard. The comment in the SC judgment that “if certain portions in the curriculum are not historically correct or have a tendency to misrepresent, suppress or project wrong information, they can be removed” shows that a comprehensive review of the curriculum, syllabus and textbooks needs to be urgently undertaken. The removal, from history textbooks, of certain portions related to the practice of untouchability and beef eating had been done with the intention of misrepresenting facts, and smacks of an ulterior communal motive. Hence the SFI said it would explore the possibility of filing a review petition before the SC, demanding a judicial review of the efforts to communalise education by the Vajpayee government.

  It will also be noted that, in his separate judgement, Justice Sema has contradicted the main contention on the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE), disagreeing with the majority contention that the CABE need not be consulted on the NCFSE as it is not a statutory body. The SFI has demanded that the CABE must be made a statutory body and an immediate meeting of the body must be convened to seek its opinion on the NCFSE. The indictment by Justice Sema projects the HRD minister in a poor light, the SFI added. (INN)