In a significant development, the government has initiated steps to revise the syllabus of the schools in Jammu and Kashmir and the first step has been taken by including a chapter on the J&K Reorganisation Act under which the Modi government abrogated the special status of the state by repealing the Article 370 and splitting the state into two Union Territories (UTs). Articles 370 and 35A were scrapped by the government on 5 August last year.
The J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) has included the new chapter in the syllabus from this academic year. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus has also been introduced in mathematics for class-X.
It is worth mentioning that the chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat while holding charge of Army Chief, had some time ago accused the schools in J&K of radicalizing the youth.
Rawat had stressed for a relook at the syllabus that leads children into believing that they were not part of this country. The textbooks in schools of Kashmir have two maps, one of India and the other of J&K, which develops a sense of separate identity.
Rawat’s remarks drew an angry reaction from the PDP’s education minister Altaf Bukhari who hit back asking him that the Army should not meddle in the education sector of the state and concentrate on its own job.
The new chapter in the school books educates the students about the 106 central laws that have become applicable in the state after J&K becoming a UT.
The ministry of Human Resources Development Ministry has already directed the NCERT to revise the curriculum followed in the schools in J&K but the process might take some time. The revision is being done by the NCERT in consultation with the JKBOSE with focus on social science subjects, mainly history books.
Ladakh will have a separate education board, the UT will continue to be covered under the J&K school board until a new board is constituted.
The centre and the J&K government recently signed an MoU to explore the possibility of introducing books based on the curriculum of the NCERT in the state.