December 19, 2020.
TED NewsDesk, Karnataka: On Thursday, S Suresh Kumar, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education of the Government of Karnataka ordered the Commissioner of Public Instruction (CPI) for the removal of some parts of the syllabus of school textbooks of class 6 that ‘hurt Brahmin sentiments’. The decision came after many factions of the Brahmin community raised issues with a few sections of the school textbooks for ‘hurting religious sentiments. The Karnataka government obliged to the issues and ordered the removal.
The order by Kumar stated, “The paragraphs that appear on pages 82 and 83 under the title ‘Emergence of New Religions’ are irrelevant and not suitable for such a young age. The CPI should take measures to ensure that these are dropped from the syllabus with immediate effect.”
The objections were raised by the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board on Tuesday. The Board found the passages where it states that the food scarcity in the Vedic period was the result of sacrifices of animals that are useful for agriculture. It further states the cause of the scarcity of food as using milk and ghee as offerings to the god of fire in the ‘havans’ that were performed by Brahmins.
Kumar added, “Mantralaya Raghavendra Swamiji had spoken to me over a telephone call expressing that such passages hurt the sentiments of the Brahmin community… No such revisions to textbooks have been made since our government was formed.”
Additionally, he has also instructed the Karnataka Text Book Society to establish a textbook reviewing committee for classes 1 to 10.
“The committee, which includes teachers and subject-matter experts, should review all textbooks pertaining to social sciences and languages till Class 10 for such complex content, and a report should be submitted in 15 days,” as per the Education Minister.
Source: The Indian Express