Date:28/05/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/05/28/stories/2004052814670300.htm

New Delhi

Sheila presents `authentic' textbooks to Arjun

By Our Staff Reporter

The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, presenting a set of school textbooks to the new Union Human Resources Development Minister, Arjun Singh, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI, MAY 27. Having received accolades from various sections of society for taking the lead in printing "authentic" textbooks depicting "true historic facts", the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today presented a set of these books to the new Union Human Resources Development Minister, Arjun Singh. Mr. Singh immediately asked officials of his Ministry to examine the feasibility of introducing the Delhi concept at the national level.

The Delhi Chief Minister had taken the lead in "de-saffronisation" of the education system in the Capital's government schools last year and rejected the textbooks brought out by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and asked the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to come out with new textbooks that did not distort history and had more content about Delhi and its rich history and heritage. During her 20-minute meeting with Mr. Arjun Singh today, the Chief Minister apprised him of the steps taken by the Delhi Government to put an end to the efforts of the previous NDA Government "to pollute the minds of the students by presenting wrong facts about historic events".

Ms. Dikshit also informed the Union Minister that the latest books had some very interesting chapters containing elaborate information about Delhi, its landmarks, monuments, Metro Rail and even about India's first woman cosmonaut, Kalpana Chawla. There was also a separate chapter on the Indian cricket batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

She informed the Minister that the textbooks brought out by the Delhi Government would be made available in the open market by the end of next month. In addition, the government schools have already been provided with the new textbooks and work was also on for bringing out an Urdu translation of these books. A total of 47 textbooks have been brought out by the SCERT under the guidance of leading academicians who have given their precious inputs to this vital project. "In fact, there was strong resistance from the NCERT last year to our move to produce our own books. They even tried to sabotage our project but I was determined not to allow lakhs of students of government schools to be subjected to misleading picture of history and distorted facts. I am thankful to all those who have put in this hard work for make this venture successful,'' she remarked.

Ms. Dikshit said Mr. Arjun Singh was very impressed with the effort of the Delhi Government towards de-saffronisation and directed his officials so study the textbooks and examine the possibility of making them a part of the NCERT curriculum.