Lindsay Pereira: Change! There's one for the books

Students in CISCEu00e2u0080u0088schools will now have JK Rowlingrsquos Harry Potter series as part of their English Literature syllabus File picOne of the nicest things that happened last week mdash an increasing rarity in a country where awful occurences are now the norm mdash was the announcement that Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations CISCE has decided to include JK Rowlingrsquos Harry Potter series for junior and middle school students as part of its English Literature syllabus starting from the academic year 201718I donrsquot particularly care for the series but what made me smile was the inclusion of classics such as Asterix Tintin and Art Spiegelmanrsquos Maus with Agatha Christiersquos Poirot books Satyajit Rayrsquos Feluda series works of PG Wodshyehouse with autobiographies of Malala Yousafzai and Anne FrankFor students from classes 3 to 8 I suppose it will be accepted with a grimace or shrug mdash depending upon their individual reading habits For older folk like me though it brings forth memories of smuggling comshyic books into classes even as Iu00e2u0080u0088struggled with soliloquies and fostered a distinct dislike for the astonishingly large number of subjects taught by disinterested teachers from some poorly chosen textbooks Itrsquos probably why it took me a little over two decades to appreciate ShakespeareThere is no word on whether other boards of education intend to adopt these titles and I donrsquot suppose they will considering the little to no importance accorded to education by our successive governments Reason why ministers in charge of that portfolio both in the state as well as the Centre often seem unqualified to hold their respective respectable positions Itrsquos also why the Balbharti mdash the ubiquitous textbook that loomed large in schools during my time mdash was a disappointment on so many levels I envy the student who can now walk into class and open a copy of Maus a title that made its way to my bookshelf only in my late 20sNow consider what so many other students across this country are forcefed annually A BBC report examining textbooks across India recshyently found things that were truly horrifying to put it mildly A textbook for teenagers in Chhattisgarh for instance blamed rising unemployment levels post Independence on women working in various sectors In 2012 a textbook referred to meateaters as dishonest people who easily cheat turn violent and commit sex crimes You can Google the reportA few years before that textbooks in Rajasthan compared housewives to donkeys while a social science textbook in Gujar reportedly printed Mahatma Gandhis assassination date wrongly and taught students that Japan had launched a nuclear attack on the US during World War II Lastly in Maharashtra a large numbers of students were taught about the importance of the lsquoSewage Canalrsquo because someone couldnrsquot figure out how to spell lsquoSuezrsquoUnfortunately for children born in this country our textbooks are political battlegrounds contents of which are often drawn up on the basis of personal prejudices regional biases and the appeasement of certain groups or ideologies Here disseminating information that paints specific topics in a positive or negative light is the priorityWe arenrsquot encouraged to arrive at conclusions for ourselves instead these conclusions mdash on politics history geographical boundaries even the way we approach the social sciences mdash are thrust upon us in our formative years so we can toe the line as and when we grow up We arenrsquot encouraged to question anything which is why our examination papers are marked on the basis of how far we deviate from the established line mdash reason why we are pulled up as adults for not doing things the way someone sitting in some government office somewhere believes that ought to be doneI wish I had Guy Delislersquos work on my geography syllabus Joe Sacco to help me understand politics and history Craig Thompson or Daniel Clowes in my English class or the option of an entire year devoted only to Tolkien I wish we had teachers who encouraged us to imagine to question our textbooks to agree to disagree without the fear of risking detention I wish we didnrsquot have to hate some subjects simply because we werenrsquot taught those in a manner that appealed to usThese days students may not fully appreciate the gift they have been given with this announcement They will though someday And even if a handful of them convince their kids to read the same texts they are being asked to read today this change in the syllabus will be a successWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom