'A question in the General Studies Paper I in the ongoing Civil Services Main examination has triggered a debate on social media. “What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism,” the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) asked the candidates. The question was of 10 marks. While candidates are tweeting photos of the question paper, many are criticising the move calling it “fall of the great civil services”...'
'Saddled with new school textbooks introduced in July 2016 that educationists criticised as narrow, sectarian and unscientific, some teachers in Rajasthan made an effort to limit the damage. Vakil Singh, former principal of Government Senior Secondary School in Kaliyan in Sri Ganganagar district, for instance, stocked the school library with magazines and other reading material for even the junior classes. He made weekly library visits mandatory for all children.
'On the morning of July 20, 2015, Rajasthan’s education minister Vasudev Devnani held a meeting with education officials in Jaipur and laid out a roadmap: he wanted new textbooks for Classes 1 to 8 within three months. And by the same evening, he wanted a list of experts who could write them. The rewriting took longer than what the minister wanted – the new textbooks were introduced in schools in July 2016. But all other objectives laid down in the meeting were achieved.
'...Educationists in Rajasthan say these changes are in keeping with the larger trend of textbook revisions made under the Bharatiya Janata Party government. Not only do the new textbooks reinforce the Hindu majoritarian worldview, they all but erase minority identities. Science is explained through stories from Indian mythology and every maths textbook from Class 3 to 8 has a chapter on Vedic maths. The banned practice of sati is described in glowing terms, as are government schemes and initiatives.
'Renowned historian Ramchandra Guha on Saturday said he believes that the government at the Centre led by Narendra Modi is the most "anti-intellectual" the country ever had and is manifested in the appointments it had made in various educational and cultural institutions.
'The chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, has quit the post just 16 months into his term. Although the reason for his resignation is not clear, government sources attributed the move to the chairman’s unhappiness over being denied an honorarium of Rs 1.5 lakh per month. When contacted, Rao confirmed that he put in his papers on November 24, but denied that the move was linked to the honorarium. “I am waiting for the communication from the government. I have nothing to say at the moment.
A group of filmmakers and scholars have written a letter written to Arun Jaitley, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for I & B and C. Senthil Rajan, Director of Film Festivals condemning the manner in which students of the Film and Television Institute of India have been treated at the International Film Festival of India currently going on in Goa. They have pointed out that ex-students have been arrested for protesting and one student was even put in preventive detention. The letter reads:
'Liberal, rebellious and progressive to the core, Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991), enfant terrible of Urdu literature, fought parochialism all her life. She led from the front and lived by her own principles. One of her daughters was married to a Hindu while the other was married to a Parsi. She didn't consume beef, not because of the Hindutva diktat, but to respect the sentiments of her Hindu grandson. And when she died she was cremated at Chandanwadi because she had willed so.
'Delhi University’s Sanskrit department and the RSS-backed Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) will be holding a seminar on November 24 to discuss the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry’s ‘New Education Policy-2015’. The seminar, whose final report will be sent to HRD minister Smriti Irani, will also have educationist Dinanath Batra delivering the keynote lecture on changes required in education.
'Ultimately the roaring voice of the FTII students reached the IFFI (International Film Festival of India) inaugural held at Panaji, Goa. Just when the inaugural had formally ended, chief guest had spoken and the administration was on the cusp of heaving a sigh of relief for a ‘trouble free beginning’ and was contemplating to ‘pat its own back’ for managing to save its ‘image’ the precints of the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium reverberated with slogans in favour of the historic FTII struggle.
