Bengaluru: Karnataka has been courting controversies in quick succession. First, it was the Hijab row, then came Halal meat, followed by seeking a ban on azaan through loudspeakers. Now, the state is in the midst of another controversy related to textbooks. Congress and others were opposing what they called the “Saffronisation” of education. The issue took a new turn when Dalit activist Devanur Mahadeva and thinker Dr. G Ramakrishna asked the state education ministry to drop chapters carrying their works.
The revision committee had submitted its report to the government in March and as per the report, Social Science textbooks of Classes VI to X in all mediums, Classes I to X in Kannada first language (except Class III) textbooks, Kannada second language textbooks of Classes VI, VIII, and IX, and third language textbooks of all mediums of Classes VII, VIII, and IX were revised.
Devanuru Mahadeva, who had actively campaigned for the inclusion of Kannada as the primary language of instruction in schools and colleges, called the entire revision exercise ‘undemocratic’. He has revoked the permission to use his work ‘Yedege Bidda Akshara’ in the textbook. Mahadeva said that those who had taken the decision to drop the chapters from the textbooks did not have any idea of Kannada literature or culture. Dr. Ramakrishna said it was an 'intellectual travesty' that children are being fed poison through textbooks.