The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has omitted the Preamble of the Indian Constitution from various textbooks for Class 3 and Class 6 for the academic year 2024-25.
The removal of the preamble is seen in the textbooks that are considered main academic subjects, including environmental studies (EVS), mathematics, English, and Hindi.
This comes as part of the revision of textbooks in compliance with the new National Educational Policy (NEP) of India during the second Modi government in 2020.
For Class 6, the NCERT has replaced three EVS textbooks named Our Pasts-I, Social and Political Life-I, and The Earth, Our Habitat, with a single book named Exploring Society: India and Beyond. The Preamble has been removed from this book, while the fundamental rights and duties of a citizen have found their place in the book.
The new English textbook, Poorvi, which replaces the old textbook Honey Suckle, has the national anthem included in place of the Preamble.
For Class 3, the Preamble of India is missing from the new textbooks of Hindi, English, Mathematics, and EVS textbook World Around Us. The old version of these textbooks had a preamble printed on the first few pages.
The omission has invited criticism from the academic community against the NCERT. Meanwhile, Professor Ranjana Arora, head of the department of curriculum studies and development at NCERT, defended the decision by claiming that the Preamble, fundamental duties, fundamental rights, and the National Anthem are being placed in various textbooks at various stages of the curriculum.
“The understanding that only the Preamble reflects the Constitution and constitutional values is flawed and narrow,” Arora was quoted by The Hindu.
Palshikar and Yadav, who were chief advisors for the original Political Science books for classes 9 to 12, have written to the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) saying the rationalisation exercise has “mutilated” the books and rendered them “academically dysfunctional.”
Palshikar, an academician and political scientist, and Yadav, a political scientist and Swaraj India leader, were chief advisors for the Political Science books for classes 9 to 12 originally published in 2006-07 based on the 2005 version of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF).
Their names are mentioned in a “letter to students” and the list of textbook development teams at the beginning of each book.
NCERT had also noticeably removed chapters on the Periodic Table from Chemistry and Challenges to Democracy from the Civics textbooks of Class 10, among many other changes, drawing widespread criticism.
