Jawaharlal Nehru finds mention at 15 places in revised syllabus: Rajasthan education minister

JAIPUR: The revised school syllabus has Jawaharlal Nehru's name at 15 places in different textbooks, a Rajasthan minister has said, rebutting charges that references to the first prime minister were removed from a Class VII textbook.

"The government has not omitted Nehru's name from textbooks. His name is there at 15 places in the revised books. The references to Nehru are available in textbooks of Class 7 (Hindi), Class 9 (Social science) and Class 11 (World History)," state School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani said in a statement.

Nehru's role in the freedom movement, introducing Panchayati Raj system and non-aligned movement have been given space in the revised textbooks, he said yesterday.

"The state government does not favour politics in education. Syllabus from class 1 to 8 is prepared by the State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT) and the Board of Secondary Education prepares the syllabus for classes 9 to 12," Devnani said.

He also said if two or three chapters on Nehru were not included in the syllabus, they would be added in the textbook in supplementary form.

Accusing the state government of omitting references to Nehru from the textbook, the state unit of Congress had yesterday held a demonstration here with PCC chief Sachin Pilot saying that it reflected the "mental bankruptcy" of the Vasundhara Raje dispensation.