This comes following objections raised by members of the public, people’s representatives, writers, and seers of various communities to the changes made in the textbooks by the Textbook Revision Committee, led by Rohith Chakrathirtha. Whereas the Opposition, writers, educationists, and seers have said the corrections made were too inadequate and demanded the withdrawal of the revised textbooks entirely. There have been hundreds of objections raised to the revised textbooks. The former Prime Minister Sri HD Devegowda also wrote to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for bringing back last year`s texts. But CM said while some changes had been brought in, the government also decided to not change many things in the revised textbooks.
Some of the major changes accepted by the government include;
- Adding the prefix “Samvidhana Shilpi” to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in the Class IX textbook,
- Reinsert lines of the contributions of prominent Siddaganga Math and Adichunchanagiri Math and achievements of Surapura Naikas. These were dropped, assuaging the “hurt feelings” of the Lingayat, Vokkaliga, and Naika communities.
- A lesson on Bhakti and Sufi saints, including passages on Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa is re-added in the Class VII Social Science textbook
- No clarity on how the passage on 12th-century reformer Basaveshwara will be edited.
There had been objections raised by Lingayat seers on dropping lines that informed of the revolt of Basaveshwara against Brahminism. The Chief Minister said the lesson would be suitably edited so as to not hurt any feelings. The changes to the revised textbooks would be brought out in the form of a booklet and distributed across schools, as revised textbooks have already been printed and distributed in schools. Edu news expresses serious concern for the scenario created by the textbook committee and the education department. The media observed that the other states have not encountered this type of row, as they are firm in the process. The committee should have been democratic, instead they became rigid and sat upon egoism, and therefore the row has been exacerbated. Addendum by way of booklet leads to further confusion in the minds of students and teachers. Who is responsible for the confusion.?