The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), on Wednesday (22nd November), refuted claims that said Ramayana and Mahabharata will be included in the school syllabus as part of history, as allegedly suggested by ‘a high-level committee constituted by NCERT and chaired by CI Issac’.
The news was extensively reported, with media houses claiming that the said recommendation was made by a high-level panel.
According to the reports, the Social Science Committee, led by Professor CI Isaac, additionally proposed several changes to the current course of study, including restructuring the history syllabus into four segments.
However, as per the recent report by NDTV, NCERT has denied these claims, saying that there is no such panel and that “whatever Isaac is saying is in his personal capacity.”
Earlier, Professor CI Issac, while talking to ANI about the ‘recommended changes’, was quoted as saying, “The panel has made recommendations for the classification of history into four periods: the classical period, the medieval period, the British era, and modern India. Till now, there have been only three classifications of Indian history- ancient, Medieval, and modern India.”
“Under the classical period, we have recommended that Indian epics–Ramayana and Mahabharata–be taught. We have recommended that the students have an idea of who Rama was and what his purpose was. A little bit about the epic,” he said.
However, as per the NDTV report, the NCERT has clearly denied to the claims and has said that no such panel is in operation and that the comments made by Issac must be in his personal capacity.
According to the prior reports, the committee’s recommendations were sent to a 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC), which was formed in July. This committee was in charge of completing the curriculum, textbooks, and learning materials for each class.
NCERT is modifying the school curriculum to align with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the new NCERT textbooks are projected to be ready for the upcoming academic session.