After reports said the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) removed the Preamble from textbooks, NCERT said the allegations "do not have a sound basis", adding that they are giving "importance to various facets of the Indian Constitution- Preamble, Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights and the National Anthem" for the first time.
NCERT's clarification came after a report by The Telegraph claimed that the Preamble to the Constitution has been dropped from several Class III and Class VI textbooks issued by the NCERT this year.
The Preamble has been removed from some textbooks for what are considered the “main academic subjects”, such as languages and environmental studies (EVS), the report said.
The NCERT revised textbooks for all classes between 2005-06 and 2007-08, after the introduction of the latest National Education Policy (NEP) by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government in 2020. This year, new books have been issued for Classes III and VI given the new National Curriculum Framework.
In the old textbooks for Class VI, the Preamble was printed on one of the first few pages of the Hindi textbook 'Durva', the English book Honey Suckle, the science book and all three EVS books — Our Pasts-I, Social and Political Life-I and The Earth Our Habitat.
The report, however, says the new English textbook, 'Poorvi', has the national anthem, while the Sanskrit text, 'Deepakam', has both the national anthem and the national song, but not the Preamble. The earlier Sanskrit book, Ruchira, did not have the Preamble, either, as per the report.
In Class III, none of the new textbooks for Hindi, English, mathematics and World Around Us (which replaces EVS) has the Preamble. The old EVS book, 'Looking Around', and the Hindi book, 'Rimjhim 3', carried the Preamble.
Rejecting the charges, NCERT said on Monday, "The allegations regarding the removal of the Preamble from the NCERT textbooks do not have a sound basis. For the first time NCERT is giving great importance to various facets of the Indian Constitution- Preamble, Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights and the National Anthem."
All these are being placed in various textbooks of various stages, the NCERT said, adding that the "understanding that only the Preamble reflects the Constitution and Constitutional Values is flawed and narrow".
"Why should children not acquire Constitutional Values from Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Rights and National Anthem along with Preamble? We give equal importance to all of these for the holistic development of children following the vision of NEP - 2020," said Professor Ranjana Arora, Head of the Department of Curriculum Studies and Development at NCERT.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also on Tuesday dubbed the allegation that the Preamble to the Constitution has been removed from NCERT textbooks as baseless and alleged that the Congress is using the subject to pursue its "politics of lies", which shows the opposition party's disgusting mentality.
Alleging that the Congress has always hated India's development and education system, Pradhan said those who are playing with the future of children and calling the Indian education system rubbish should try to know the truth before spreading lies.
