NCERT reconstitutes Class 11, 12 political science textbook panel with 4 RSS, ABVP-linked members

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reconstituted the team responsible for preparing new political science textbooks for Classes 11 and 12, with the panel asked to incorporate themes including “cultural rootedness”, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), equity and inclusion, value education and educational technology.

The 20-member Textbook Development Team (TDT), notified on August 14, includes at least four members with documented associations with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), or organisations linked to the Sangh ecosystem.

New textbooks to follow NCF-SE 2023

The panel is headed by academic and political analyst Sandeep Shastri, vice-president of Nitte (deemed to be a university), Bengaluru.

NCERT has set November 30 this year as the deadline for completing the Class 11 textbook, while the Class 12 textbook is to be completed by July 30, 2027. The work will follow the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.

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The NCERT notification said the team was being constituted “with a view to further strengthen and streamline” the development of textbooks and related teaching-learning material.

The TDT will finalise syllabi and prepare corresponding teaching material, while ensuring links with other secondary-stage textbooks. It will also receive guidance from curricular groups working on social science, languages, IKS, environmental education and pedagogy.

Four members with documented Sangh links

Among the members is Yadunath Deshpande, a senior consultant with the education ministry and member of the National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee. ABVP records identify him as the organisation’s joint state organising secretary for Maharashtra in 2014.

Prashant Divekar, who heads the Teacher Education Centre and Research Programme at Pune-based Jnana Prabodhini, is also part of the panel. The institution has longstanding links with the Sangh ecosystem, while Divekar’s professional profile describes his approach as rooted in “Bhartiya educational philosophy”.

Vandana Mishra, a professor at JNU’s Centre for Political Studies, is a former national secretary of the ABVP.

Another member, JNU associate professor Ravi Rameshchandra Shukla, has served on the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Democratic Governance, published by the Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership, which operates under the RSS-affiliated Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini.

Focus on cultural rootedness and inclusion

The textbooks will be developed around cross-cutting themes such as “equity and inclusion, age-appropriate pedagogy, value education, ICT, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), and Environmental Education”.

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A Textbook Core Group will periodically review the drafts and provide feedback. The textbooks will also be assessed for themes including “cultural rootedness, Indian Knowledge Systems, inclusion, educational technology, assessment, etc.”

NCERT said the team can bring in additional experts, teachers, illustrators or designers as special invitees, subject to approval from its director. New textbooks aligned with NCF-SE 2023 have so far been released for Classes 1 to 9.