NCERT panel recommends inclusion of Ramayan, Mahabharat in school textbooks

New Delhi: A high-level NCERT panel has recommended that epics Ramayana and Mahabharata be taught in schools as part of the history curriculum under ‘India’s classical period’. The panel has also proposed that the Preamble of the Constitution be written on classroom walls in vernacular languages.

The recommendations are part of the final position paper on social sciences and have yet to receive NCERT’s approval.

The seven-member panel, set up last year to revise the school social sciences curriculum, also suggested the inclusion of Indian knowledge system, Vedas and Ayurveda in textbooks.

The committee’s recommendations for its final ‘position paper’ on social sciences is a key prescriptive document for laying down the foundation for development of new NCERT books.

“The panel has made recommendations for the classification of history into four periods: classical period, mediaeval period, British era, and modern India. Till now, there have been only three classifications of Indian history — ancient, medieval and modern,” said

CI Issac, a retired history professor who is heading the panel. “We have recommended that the epics — Ramayana and Mahabharata — be taught under the classical period,” he added.

The panel has also proposed that textbooks should give space to all dynasties that ruled India instead of just one or two. The panel’s recommendation will now be taken into consideration by the 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee that was notified in July to finalise the curriculum, textbooks and learning material.

Source : TOI