Bengaluru: A Karnataka-based education rights group has accused NCERT of attempting to “saffronise” the curriculum through its newly introduced class 6 Kannada textbook.
The group alleged that the textbook gives prominence to religious themes while marginalising Karnataka’s cultural identity and diverse dietary practices.
People’s Alliance for Fundamental Rights to Education said the textbook, titled ‘Krishna’, reflected a broader trend of introducing mythology and religious themes into school education under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 framework.
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“This is nothing but a project to saffronise the curriculum,” PAFRE Principal Convener Niranjanaradhya V P claimed in a statement.
He also questioned the rationale behind naming the textbook ‘Krishna’.
PAFRE alleged that Karnataka’s cultural and literary heritage had been overlooked in the textbook.
“Karnataka’s identity is rooted in the ideas and contributions of great poets and reformers such as Adikavi Pampa, Kuvempu, Kota Shivaram Karanth and Basavanna. Yet NCERT has chosen the name ‘Krishna’,” it said.
The organisation criticised a lesson on nutrition, alleging it promoted a vegetarian worldview while excluding references to eggs, fish, and meat.
“The plate shown in the lesson contains only ragi mudde, roti, rice, vegetables, milk, and fruits, while fish, eggs, and meat are completely absent,” it alleged.
Claiming the textbook offered a “narrow representation” of Karnataka’s food culture, PAFRE asked: “Is Karnataka represented only by ragi mudde and bassaaru (a traditional Karnataka lentil broth curry)? Are the millions of people in Karnataka who consume pork curry, fish curry, and keema balls not Kannadigas?” The group further alleged that the textbook marginalised non-vegetarian food habits and sought to portray vegetarian food as the “sole marker of a balanced diet.” “By portraying only vegetarian food as balanced, politics is being brought onto children’s dining plates. This is not education; it is cultural terrorism,” it alleged.
PAFRE contended that the textbook lacked lessons, illustrations and activities reflecting Karnataka’s regional diversity, and “failed to adequately represent” the folklore, literature and lifestyles of Coastal Karnataka, North Karnataka, Malnad and the Old Mysuru region.
The organisation demanded that CBSE withdraw the textbook from the class 6 curriculum for the current academic year and urged National Council of Educational Research and Training to explain in writing why it had chosen the title ‘Krishna’ for the book.
PAFRE, in addition, sought the inclusion of references to eggs, fish and meat in the chapter on balanced diets, questioned the exclusion of the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) from the textbook development process, and called for the book to be renamed with a title that better reflects Karnataka’s identity.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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