Jammu and Kashmir parties on Sunday (February 16, 2025) turned their spotlight on textbooks introduced in the union territory (UT) during the Lieutenant Governor’s administration, a day after a major goof-up in a class 10 textbook surfaced online.
A parent posted a short video, wherein the Board of School Education (BOSE), Kashmir, in the textbook titled “Disaster Management and Road Safety Education” replaced the word “State” with ‘UT’, apparently after the Centre downgraded Jammu and Kashmir to a union territory in 2019.
All the sentences in the book that had the word “state” were mechanically changed to “UT”. It weirdly and funnily changed the meaning of sentences. For example, “Unconsciousness or fainting is a UT of the human body”. Similarly, “UT of human body” and “UT of shock”.
The mistakes surfaced in spite of a special section in the BOSE, Kashmir, to proofread the content of the textbook. The L-G administration revised the syllabus of textbooks, especially from classes 5 up to 10, in Jammu and Kashmir after the erstwhile State came under the Central rule in 2018.
Poor treatment
Many local academicians pointed out poor treatment of local icons in the textbooks. They alleged literary figures like poet Allama Iqbal (RA) and poet Agha Shahid Ali were removed in spite of well recognised contributions. Similarly, Muslim rulers, including Shia saint Mir Shams-ud-Din Araqi and Mughal kings were “represented in bad light and poor language”, a senior academician said on condition of anonymity. The kings from the Shah Mir dynasty, the first Muslim rulers of Kashmir, were also treated with “derisive language”, he added.
Meanwhile, reacting to the faux pas, former Education Minister and Peoples Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhtar said: “The State is downgraded to UT and so is English language in our BOSE books prescribed for schools. It’s a tragicomedy that we are living.”
Ruling National Conference (NC) spokesman Imran Nabi Dar, however, clarified that the fresh textbooks circulated by the BOSE have corrected the past mistake in the book, which went viral online. “Setting the record straight on the BOSE viral video, our government is dedicated to providing quality education to children, guided by the vision of Health and Education Minister Sakina Itoo,” Mr. Dar said.
Published – February 16, 2025 10:22 pm IST