The revised Class 12 history book for schools affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board appears jinxed. After the mud-slinging by the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the ruling Congress party over the alleged dilution of the portions on Sikh history in the book, the state government has now decided to hold back the release of the book until the oversight committee constituted to look into the alleged deletion of 23 chapters on Sikh history chapters and omissions in syllabus submits its report.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had countered the SAD's political criticism saying the syllabus revision was undertaken during the Akali regime, and he had ensured nothing was left out. Now, it transpires there are errors—factual—in the new syllabus. Luckily, for the students and their parents, the books are yet to be printed.
The syllabus revision aims at aligning it with the NCERT syllabus by which the standard of the Punjab school board exams will be raised to that of the Central Board of Secondary Education.
The syllabus pertaining to Sikh history had indeed been trimmed. But the government had revised the syllabus of classes 6 to 10, too, such that the left out chapters form part of history studies in these classes, thereby reducing the burden of the Class 12 students, and keeping their syllabus more contemporary.
Former deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal was peeved over the omission of the portions on the lives of several Sikh heroes.
Singh has now asked the committee, comprising prominent former vice chancellors and headed by renowned historian Prof Kirpal Singh, to fact-check as well. To doubly satisfy everyone that the chapters on Sikh history are correct, the committee has two nominees of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandak Committee as well.
“The oversight committee will, in fact, look at the chapters on Sikh history in text books for all classes so that nothing is missed and there are no errors. As the chief minister has already said, all the chapters won't be in the Class 12 books, but by the end of Class 12, no hero of ours would be left out. They are all inspirational, with contribution the modern generation must know about,” said a government spokesperson.