References to the destruction of the Babri Mosque and the Gujarat riots have been removed from school textbooks, according to director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Dinesh Prasad Saklani, since riot education "can create violent and depressed citizens." This omission of Babri and related events has sparked debate about the impacts of altering historical education.

Saklani emphasised that textbook revisions are an annual process and should not be the focus of political "hue and cry" in an interview with PTI on Saturday.

Omission of Babri Image Source: Shiksha

The Babri Masjid is referred to as a “three-domed structure” rather than being mentioned by name in the recently revised NCERT Class 12 Political Science textbook. In addition, the details from the previous version of the Ayodhya section were deleted and the section was reduced from four to two pages.

Regarding the revisions made to NCERT textbooks regarding the Gujarat riots or the demolition of the Babri Mosque, Saklani questioned, "Why should we educate about riots in school textbooks? Instead of producing violent and miserable people, we wish to produce positive citizens.

Do we want to instill in our pupils a hatred for others, make them obnoxious, or make them the targets of hatred? Is that the goal of schooling? Should we introduce such young children to the concept of riots? They can study about it when they get older, but not through school textbooks. When they're older, let them comprehend what went wrong and why. He continued, "The uproar about the modifications is unimportant.

The lesson in the most recent edition of the textbook centres on the ruling by the Supreme Court that made it possible to build a Ram temple.

The goal of our textbooks is to assist us in producing positive citizens. Not everything can be found in them. Our schooling does not aim to produce violent or depressed citizens. Saklani went on, "Hatred and violence are not subjects of teaching; they should not be the focus of our textbooks."

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