Reported By: Neethu Reghukumar
Edited By: Manjiri Joshi
News18.com
Last Updated: October 27, 2023, 19:12 IST
Thiruvananthapuram, India
Professor CI Issac, chairperson of the NCERT committee on social sciences, said the name Bharat is at least 7,000 years old. (Malayalam News18 File)
The name ‘Bharat’ instills a sense of pride in children, which is why we have made the recommendation to replace ‘India’ in all school textbooks, said Professor CI Issac, chairperson of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) committee on social sciences.
ALSO READ | From India to ‘Bharat’: NCERT Panel Recommends Name Change For School Textbooks
The NCERT panel has proposed to universally replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in all school textbooks. The Opposition parties have objected to the recommendation of having only Bharat in school textbooks.
Issac said: “The people, who have opposition to the suggestion, have changed the name of Madras to Chennai and Trivandrum to Thiruvananthapuram. They want to change Kerala to Keralam, but when we say Bharat, why do they have a problem?"
Issac said, “The name Bharat is at least 7,000 years old. When children hear this, when they hear about our rich history and heritage, they will feel proud. The name India is only about 150 years old."
Issac said their suggestion was the name Bharat be taught in social sciences textbooks from Class 7-12. He added that once the new education policy was formed, the committee thought the students should be taught the name Bharat. “We wanted the next generation to learn the name Bharat. As we were taught India, we are only saying that. We never said India should not be used," Issac said.
The recommendations were given in 2021 by the seven-member committee chaired by Issac.
Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty had said the state has rejected the recommendations given by the NCERT committee for social sciences.
ALSO READ | ‘Bharat – It’s There in Constitution’: Jaishankar Amid ‘India Name Change’ Row
Sivankutty said, “Citizens have the right to use India or Bharat as said in the Constitution. It is with twisted interests that they are saying from now we should use only Bharat. This is narrow politics, Kerala cannot accept this."
He added that if the NCERT intended to teach children through textbooks things that are unconstitutional, unscientific and distorting the real history, then Kerala will defend itself through academic debates.
The state had earlier included portions deleted by the NCERT in the state syllabus.
