ABSTRACT

Schools and textbooks are significant mediums for the transmission of political ideas. Textbooks therefore reflect the ideology of the day whilst imparting values, goals, and myths to younger generations. This article provides an insight into the nexus between politics, the state, the social contract, and school textbooks in India. It critically highlights the ways in which the discourses of political parties of the (national) Self and Other are invoked and reflected in school textbooks underpinning the parties’ versions of national identity and transmit their wider political messages, with devastating results on the debates about Indian citizenship. There is a clear link between changing political parties at the helm of national and state governments and which school textbooks are in use. The article reviews the textbook politics between 1998 and 2020, focusing in particular on how the present BJP-led government has appointed Hindutva-minded scholars to lead education institutions underpinning the message of India being a Hindu nation. The right wing RSS has been allowed by the Narendra Modi government to influence the formulation of the National Education Policy 2020 as well as suggesting changes to textbooks to push the national discourse of citizenship defined by Hindutva at the Union and State levels. The article adds, theoretically and substantively, to the specific link between education and the current issues of Indian citizenship as the government tries to change the values of India’s constitution. Not many in this generation of Indians think this is abnormal, as this reflects what they have learnt at school and historically been used to shape the hostile mind-set of new generations vis-à-vis their neighbors, and other religious communities. The article evaluates how over the last two decades textbooks of the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) interpret government policy objectives and guidelines to depict Indian national identity, internal ethnic and cultural diversity, and citizenship.

摘要

学校和教科书是传播政治思想的重要媒介。因此，教科书反映了当时的意识形态，同时向年轻一代传授了价值观、目标和神话。本文深入探讨了印度政治、国家、社会契约和学校教科书之间的关系。它批判性地强调了（民族）自我和他者政党的话语被援引和反映在支持政党版本的国家认同的学校教科书中并传播其更广泛的政治信息的方式，在关于印度的辩论中产生了毁灭性的结果国籍。国家和州政府掌舵的政党不断变化与正在使用的学校教科书之间存在明显的联系。这篇文章回顾了 1998 年至 2020 年间的教科书政治，特别关注现任印度人民党领导的政府如何任命具有印度教思想的学者领导教育机构，以支持印度成为印度教国家的信息。Narendra Modi 政府允许右翼 RSS 影响 2020 年国家教育政策的制定，并建议修改教科书，以在联盟和州一级推动印度教定义的国家公民话语。随着政府试图改变印度宪法的价值观，该文章从理论上和实质上补充了教育与当前印度公民身份问题之间的具体联系。这一代印度人中没有多少人认为这是不正常的，因为这反映了他们在学校学到的东西，并且在历史上被用来塑造新一代对邻居和其他宗教社区的敌对心态。这篇文章评估了过去 20 年国家教育研究和培训委员会 (NCERT) 的教科书如何解释政府政策目标和指导方针，以描绘印度的民族认同、内部种族和文化多样性以及公民身份。