In a sudden U-turn, the state government has decided to roll back the cuts in the school syllabi under which it had deleted a host of chapters, including those on the Mysuru king Tipu Sultan and his father, Hyder Ali, sections of the Indian Constitution, along with lessons on Prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ.
This followed criticism from different sections of society and the Opposition.
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In a late announcement last night, education minister Suresh Kumar said the government had asked the Karnataka Text Book Society to refrain from undertaking any pruning of the syllabus for school children. This was not before brushing aside charges of distorting history though even as he asserted the need to avoid unnecessary political confusion.
Repeatedly underlying there was no question of covering up the history of any person or record ,for that matter, he said the government did not believe in destroying society. In the same vein, he was quick to add that as the academic year had not started yet, there was no clarity on the number of working days that would finally be available for school students. This explained why the syllabus for schools were not finalised.
With the latest govt decision now, the Opposition and all concerned are heaving a sigh of relief while realising benefit of how pressure can work, if only to prevent the government from making mistakes, said a Congress leader