By Dr Rusievan Shangpliang
The vision of the Meghalaya Board of School Education (hereafter to be referred as Board) is that, “it is committed to quality education for the holistic development of all students, culminating in attaining excellence in their lives, so that they will be a blessing to the society and the world at large.” The textbook(s) of the Board, because of the distortions of historical facts, is/are examples of self-defeating the goal. The distortion of historical facts is ‘historical negationism’. It means an illegitimate distortion which amounts to mishandling of the historical material and the abuse of the historical facts. When such distortions (deliberate or accidental) are observed in the text books, irrespective of the class in which the book is used, they become a matter of great concern for the students, parents, teachers and the academic fraternity at large. In the cases of distortions it is assumed that the imparting of knowledge is being misused for selfish goals.
The recent newspaper report regarding the Social Science textbook used for the Class IX students raises various questions about the vision and mission of the Board itself. In the book entitled Core Social Science for Class IX which is suggested by the Board for the students, information is given in a manner that fits the definition and concept of historical negationism. Few examples among many can be sorted out here. In the chapter “Freedom Fighters and Prominent Personalities of Meghalaya”, there are wrong spellings of the names of the people and places in the book (Tirot Sing is spelled as Tirat Singh, Nongkhlaw is spelled as Nunklow, He is described as the chief of Hima Khadsawphra whereas in reality he was the chief of the state of Nongkhlaw – See page 65). This clearly depicts the copy-paste-editing/writing approaches of the author/editor that to without any effort to check the historical facts. Pa Togan Sangma is being described as the freedom fighter of the Jaintia whereas in reality he was the freedom fighter of the Garo community (See page 67). To add to the problem, is the lack of chronological sense since the year and period of the struggle led by the freedom fighters is not mentioned. The major drawback is that there is no relevance in the topics. What has the Ahom Revolt got to do with the chapter? (See page 65) Do the authors have knowledge of history? Are they well versed with the historiographical trends in writing the history of the state of Meghalaya? Are they trying to mislead the students or alter history? Again, this negligence cannot be treated as a misinterpretation of facts; rather it indicates the motive of write-to-earn profit approach.
In the topic “Prominent Personalities of Meghalaya”, (See pages-67-71) the authors and the editor highlight some of the personalities that they think have contributed to the development of Meghalaya. It seems the authors are either influenced by their personal affiliations or by those whom they are getting benefits from. It is to be noted that the authors plainly ignored most of the people who have dedicated their lives for the welfare and upliftment of the state. Besides, the work and contribution of some individuals among those mentioned in the book, are still in the process of being questioned and yet to be validated. There is no guideline that gives the authors the authority to categorize between the prominent and the non-prominent. On what basis, credibility and criteria does one require to be considered prominent? This reveals that a great deal of subjectivity exists which has overlooked historical and factual information. Besides other misleading information, the book has wrongly presented the cultural aspect of the Khasi and Jaintia people by providing false information (“They have their own style of making gold, silver, necklaces, gold chains, from the tree, earrings, and so on.” – See page 329).
In this book there are very few chapters that contribute to the development of reasoning or ideas or rational evaluation of different aspects of human life that would develop the students’ thinking processes. It is surprising that topics such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, PAN Card and Adhaar Card, Credit Cards and Debit Cards, Demonetisation of Currency etc., gained more importance without any critical analysis. While dwelling on these issues, a greater amount of subjectivity is present and this clearly reflects the narrow approach and attitude of the author(s) concerned and the defeat of the vision of the Board. Moreover the grammar and language of the book is horrendous which would clearly hamper the students’ learning process and knowledge.
Sincere thanks goes to those concerned individuals who brought this up to the awareness of the general public through the use of social media and other means. Thanks to organisations such as the Hynniewtrep Youth Council and the Khasi Students’ Union who swiftly made a move as soon as the news spread to question this matter. However, the sale of the book cannot be stopped.While addressing the complaints, the Board clarified by putting the blames on technical errors and typos and ignored the fact that it was negligence and unprofessionalism on its part. The question is- Should we plainly accept this clarification? Who is responsible for such negligence? Is it the Board’s teams that are going through the manuscripts submitted by the publishers or is it the Directorate of Educational Research and Training that helped in checking the manuscripts? Is there something behind the submission of manuscripts? Why is the information and credentials regarding the authors and editors missing from the book? What are the procedures adopted by the Board in the preparation of a book? Is education in the state under threat? Why are the opinions and suggestions of the experts in their respective disciplines not taken into account before the book is published? If the book is going to be reviewed that means a new version has to come up. The concern here is who will bear the expenses of those who have bought the book? And more importantly, how will the accountability of the wrongdoings and attempts to play with the future of the students be fixed? Who will take a call?
It is a humble request to teachers of other disciplines to check the information in this book and other textbooks that are authorized by the Board for schools from Classes 1 to 10 and bring any matter to the notice of the concerned authorities and public as well so that such things will not happen in the future. Students are sent to school to gain knowledge. Who would have thought that the books could be misleading them? The trust that the students have on the books and on the teachers who use them to guide the students should be built on solid foundation. What will happen to the future of our students if the level of distortion is passed by blind eyes? Moreover, the drop out of about one lakh students from school without completing their School Leaving Certificate exam is taken lightly by the Board. Is it always the students’ fault?
This is a matter of concern that needs immediate attention. But as of now, serious dedication is needed to be given to the ones who are still attending school before the number of drop-outs increase to two lakhs.
(The writer is Assistant Professor Dept. of History Synod College, Shillong)