Karnataka to review school text books for offensive references to communities

Karnataka has decided to take up a comprehensive review of school textbooks to see if any chapter contained references offensive to a community or communities after the head of a religious mutt on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border flagged its concerns.

“We hope to complete it at the earliest, probably within a month,” Education Minister S Suresh Kumar told ET, after asking the education department to remove references to the Brahmin community in a sixth standard text book.

Head of Sri Raghavendra Swamy mutt at Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh called the minister on Wednesday, conveying sentiments of sections of Brahmins to remove certain references from a text book they found offensive. “I personally read the chapter in the social studies text of the 6^th standard. They are not only irrelevant, but also beyond the comprehension of children,” the minister said.


The minister has asked the education department to assign senior subject experts to vet textbooks from class 1 to class 10, and collate such references if they come across any. These contents, along with the opinion of subject experts, will be referred to a state-level committee of experts which will recommend appropriate action to the government. “I have asked for a report in two weeks. The exercise may take a little more time. I want to complete the task at the earliest,” he said.

Derisive or glorifying references to caste groups and historical figures have often sparked controversies in Karnataka. Soon after the BJP assumed power in the state last year, BJP MLA Appachu Ranjan wrote to the government to purge text books of chapters glorifying Tipu Sultan. The text book committee, however, removed some references to him later while retaining in text books of higher classes.