Fernandes' Reinduction Shameful : Sonia Gandhi

12 October, 2001

Dear Prime Minister,

There have been several reports in the media regarding an exercise being carried out by the NCERT and the Ministry of HRD for developing a new syllabus. According to these reports new textbooks are to be introduced in the junior and senior classes in schools in the coming year.

The secrecy surrounding this alleged development of a new syllabus for schools in particular alarming. I believe such secrecy in academic matters is unprecedented.

While intervening in the debate on this subject during the last session of Parliament, I had stated that the 1986 National Policy on Education had been endorsed and sanctified by Parliament. Its core and secular values cannot be changed without the consent of our supreme legislative body. I had demanded that such changes should not be contemplated without consulting a broad spectrum of experts and our States.

I am concerned by the reports appearing in the media and am therefore writing to reiterate these demands. The Government needs to immediately demystify the process of changing our textbooks by announcing the names of the experts who have written and scrutinised the new books. For the satisfaction of all constituencies and groups, these new textbooks must be examined by a panel of academicians and experts constituted on the basis of consensus, well before they are introduced in our schools.

I do hope this important matter will receive your immediate attention.

With regards,

Yours Sincerely,
Sonia Gandhi