Parliamentary Education panel asks for inclusion of Vedas, Bhagavad Gita in history books

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• Dec 2, 2021 | moderator

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel on education on Tuesday suggested numerous modifications to school history textbooks. 

The changes cover studying "classical wisdom and knowledge" from scriptures, reviewing how we mention freedom fighters, mentioning women leaders, and highlighting "national pride." 

These are all in service of education that is "free of biases," the panel stated. 

These proposals came as the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) revised ahead of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 

Previously, the central government has formed a panel to frame overarching guidelines, informing the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) changes.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe is the head of the existing panel on education, women, children, youth and sports. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe recommended in its report titled 'Reforms in context and design of schools textbooks ', which was tabled in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday.

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"Our history textbooks should be continually updated and account for post-1947 history as well. In addition, an option of conducting a review of National Curricular Framework at regular intervals should be kept," it stated. 

The committee appended, "NCERT should take a relook at the guidelines for writing history textbooks so that equal weightage and attention is provided to the different eras, times and events."

The committee further suggested the education of many former Indian empires across the nation that has been under-represented till now.

The panel added, "NCERT and State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) should include the aged experience, information and teachings concerning life and society from Vedas and other great Indian texts/ books in the school curriculum." 

The board additionally stated that all books, particularly history books used for additional reading, that government agencies do not publish should also follow the NCERT composition to avoid errors.