Karnataka: Lessons on Tipu Sultan, Jesus, Mohammed cut in some textbooks

Reason being given by officials is that these topics are also taught in other classes

tipu sultan A portrait of Tipu Sultan

Earlier this month, the CBSE was panned for cutting chapters on federalism, secularism and other important socio-political issues in textbooks for classes 9 to 12.

The CBSE had announced the cuts were part of its move to reduce the syllabus by 30 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, a similar exercise to trim textbooks for the Karnataka state syllabus is raising eyebrows. The Karnataka Department of Public Instruction on Monday announced it had reduced syllabi by 30 per cent as part of efforts to cut working days for classes 1 to 10 to 120 days from the standard duration of around 200 days.

The Hindu reported "Among the lessons truncated in Social Studies are chapter 5 of class 7 that deals with Haider Ali, Tipu Sultan, historical places of Mysuru, and the administration of Commissioners."

The reason being given for the cuts by officials is that these topics are also taught in other classes. Chapters on Tipu Sultan have been retained in textbooks for classes 6 and 10.

"Chapters on the drafting committee of the Constitution and salient features of the Constitution have been dropped for Class 7 as ‘pupils will study the same in Class 9’. Also ‘entire lessons’ on Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed have been dropped in Class 6 since they are taught in Class 9," The Hindu reported.

An official of the Textbook Society was quoted by Deccan Herald as saying, "Trimming does not mean we have removed half of the syllabus from textbooks. It is only keeping in mind the repetition we have condensed the chapters."

Tipu Sultan has been a contentious figure in Karnataka politics, with the BJP opposing the Siddaramaiah government's decision to celebrate his birth anniversary. Recently, BJP MLAs had petitioned the B.S. Yediyurappa government to drop academic content on the ruler. However, the demand did not make much headway.

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