Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty Monday called the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) decision to give Hindi titles for English medium textbooks “irrational” and called for a review.
This comes at a time when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government of the neighbouring Tamil Nadu has been opposing the three-language policy in the National Education Policy 2020, seeing it as the “imposition of Hindi” in southern states.
“The NCERT decision is against federal principles and the Constitutional values. It is not only violation of common logic, but an incident of foisting one’s cultural values in such a manner sabotaging the linguistic diversity of our country,” Sivankutty, also a Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, said, urging all other states to stand united against these types of imposition.
So far, English medium texts had titles in English. The move would mean that the English textbook for Class 6, previously called ‘Honeysuckle’, will now be titled ‘Poorvi’ – a Hindi word that translates to mean ‘Eastern’ and is also the name of a raga in Hindustani classical music.
Other changes include changing the name of the Class 1 English textbook to Mridang and the Class 3 to Santoor.
Sivankutty went on to say that it was “absolutely wrong” to change the English titles that have been used for decades “to respect linguistic diversity and develop a sensitive approach in the minds of children”.
“Kerala, like other non-Hindi speaking states, is committed to protecting linguistic diversity and giving priority to regional cultural freedom. The titles of the textbooks are not mere names; they shape the perception and imagination of children. English medium students deserve English titles. Education should not be an instrument of imposition but of empowerment and consensus,” he said.
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