A high-level committee constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to revise the school curriculum for social sciences, has recommended to include epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata in textbooks, and to write the Preamble of the Constitution on classroom walls, said committee’s chairperson CI Issac on Tuesday.

The seven-member committee, which was constituted last year, has made several recommendations for its final position paper on social sciences, which is a key prescriptive document for laying down the foundation for the development of new NCERT textbooks.

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The committee’s recommendation may now be taken into consideration by the 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) notified in July to finalise the curriculum, textbooks and learning material for these classes.

The NSTC has also recently formed a Curricular Area Group (CAG) for Social Science to develop Syllabi and Teaching-Learning material for the subject.

Emphasising that it is significant to teach Ramayana and Mahabharata to students in classes 7 to 12, Issac said, “The committee has insisted on teaching epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata in the social science syllabus to students. We think that students in their teenage years build their self-esteem, patriotism and pride for their nation. Every year thousands of students leave the country and seek citizenship in other countries because of the lack of patriotism among them. Therefore, it is important for them to understand their roots and develop love for their country and their culture.”

“Although some education boards presently teach Ramayana to students, they teach it as a myth. What is a myth? There is no purpose of the education system if the students are not taught these epics, and it will not be nation serving,” he added.

Issac had earlier said that the panel had also recommended replacing the name ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks, introducing ‘classical History’ instead of ancient History in the curriculum of textbooks for classes 3 to 12.

“The recommendation to include Ramayana and Mahabharata in the syllabus was also made earlier. The committee has not made any fresh recommendations,” he said.

Explaining the idea behind recommending writing the Preamble of the Constitution on the walls of the classrooms, Issac said, “Our Preamble is noble. It gives importance to social values including democracy and secularism. Therefore, we have recommended writing it on the walls of the classrooms so that everyone can understand and learn from it,” Issac added.

NCERT is revising the school curriculum in line with the national education policy (NEP) 2020. The new NCERT textbooks are likely to be ready by the next academic session.