New Delhi : In a letter shot off to NCERT, political scientists Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar asserted once again that they cannot be forced to introduce political science textbooks that they would not like to recognise. Hence, they requested the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to drop their names as chief advisors for these textbooks.
They expressed concern over the controversy surrounding these textbooks, saying that what was once a matter of pride for everybody had become a source of embarrassment now. The so-called rationalisation of textbooks had twisted the books out of their original form and they became 'academically dysfunctional'.
The assertion of these two political scientists came amid the NCERT making it clear once again that it would not be possible for anyone to withdraw their association with the textbooks at the school level. However, Yadav and Palshikar claimed that they had a moral right to dissociate from the textbooks as they were being distorted and twisted out of their original form. They strongly objected to the NCERT's claims on the textbook development committee acknowledging their contribution.
Yadav and Palshikar were chief advisors for the political science books for 9th to 12th classes that were published based on the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). They were objecting to the mention of their names in the "letter to students" and in the list of the textbook development team members in the books.
The two political scientists suggested to the NCERT that it would be free to publish the names of those experts at whose behest they were making changes to the textbooks as per their desires and fancies. It was not good for the NCERT to use 'our names' for the books that featured distorted content, they said.
