FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Historians fear it's a bid to push political agenda; (top right) Lal
FAUX PAS MISSING LINKS: There is no mention of Sikhism and Islam in a chapter on major religions and of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination by Nathuram Godse. DISPUTED ERA: Reference to the use of zero and prohibition of cow slaughter in Vedic times and of sindoor in the Harappan civilisation. AT SEA IN GEOGRAPHY: Accompanying maps locate the Madagascar Island in the Arabian Sea instead of the Indian Ocean.

Its history isn't very encouraging. Three weeks after the Supreme Court upheld its new school curriculum, the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is mired in another controversy. This time, it is over factual errors and approach to history in social science books for classes VI and IX. Apart from bloomers such as locating Madagascar Island in the Arabian Sea instead of its rightful place in the Indian Ocean, the textbooks have other, more serious surprises. They refer to the use of zero and prohibition of cow slaughter in Vedic times, use of vermilion by women in the Harappan civilisation and describe the Russian revolution as a mere coup by Lenin.

What, however, sent the alarm bells ringing was that it looked suspiciously like an attempt to push a political agenda. There is, shockingly, no mention of Islam and Sikhism in the chapter on major religions in the Class VI textbook, or of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse in the Class IX textbook. "The textbooks ignore the cultural mosaic of the classroom. The omissions reveal a narrow approach to history," says Jyoti Bose, principal of Springdales School, Delhi.

Despite the alarming errors, the NCERT is not apologetic. It maintains that factual errors have crept in because the books were "published under great pressure" due to the court litigation. "The textbooks went into print after September 12, the day the apex court upheld our curriculum," says Puran Chand, who heads the NCERT's publication wing. The Central Board of Secondary Education, which prescribes NCERT books, has already announced that schools would soon be provided a list of corrections.

As for the controversial references to the use of zero and sindoor, the council maintains that these are no flaws and are based on the findings of "contemporary historical research". But how contemporary is the research? Professor Makhan Lal, who authored the Class VI social science textbook, says he did not rely on secondary 19th or 20th century interpretation of the Vedic times, but "on the original Rig Veda and Atharva Veda".

His source, however, for the vermilion smeared Harappan terra cotta figurine is an American Institute of Pakistan Studies publication. As for the omission of Islam and Sikhism, he points out that the chapter dealt with the ancient period ending 6th century a.d. "The other two religions were born in later centuries," he says. Historian Bipan Chandra is not surprised that history is being used to push a particular political agenda. "For the past 170 years, history textbooks have had a bias. The British used history writing to divide and rule Indians. Now the BJP is doing it," he says, adding that the party might even like to scrap teaching of history in schools, as Pakistan has.

While historians worry about the use of history to justify, or obliterate, an event from the past, educationists admit that they don't rely too much on the NCERT textbooks up to Class VIII. It is books by private publishers that dominate. The damage, therefore, may not be serious. The NCERT, however, continues to believe that those who do not teach correct history tend to repeat it.

-Lakshmi Iyer