No dilution of Sikh history, says Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

PUNJAB CHIEF Minister Amarinder Singh Monday took on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the issue of alleged ‘deletion’ of chapters on Sikh history from school textbooks, and said that it was during the Akalis’ government, in 2014, when the decision to realign the courses with the NCERT syllabus was taken. The SGPC was party to all the discussions on the issue since his government took over in March last year, said a government statement quoting the CM.

“It was on January 9, 2014 that an expert committee was proposed to be set up to discuss the issue of realignment and to finalise the history syllabus from Class IX to XII. The syllabus thus finalised was uploaded on the Board’s website in March 2014. The SGPC had then objected to the syllabus finalised for Class IX in 2015, while there was no consensus achieved on the course for other classes. Eventually, after re-doing the syllabus, the books for Classes IX and X were published by the Board in 2016, and those of Classes XI and XII were decided to be published in 2018,” said the statement quoting Amarinder.

He said that soon after taking over as CM, his government had written to SGPC in March 2017 for discussion on the issue of the History course realignment, given the sensitive nature of the subject. In response, the SGPC had deputed Prof Paramveer Singh of Panjabi University, Patiala, who attended all the meetings held to deliberate on the matter.

The statement added that contrary to what was being “wilfully wrongly projected” by the Opposition as well as the SGPC, his government had taken every precaution, in the process of the syllabus realignment, to ensure that there is no dilution of Sikh religious history in the course study.

The Chief Minister said the Class XI history book they were citing and quoting in support of their allegations had not even been printed yet. The Chief Minister made it clear that the entire history of the Sikh Gurus has been retained in the realigned syllabus, with no cutting or pruning done. The chapters and materials on Sikh history had been organised in a more cohesive format for ease of learning, across Classes XI and XII, he added.
News Source (Indian Express)