THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The textbook row in Kerala has reached new heights with a section of the Muslim clergy condemning the book during Friday prayers in mosques and two panchayats ruled by the Muslim League barring teachers under its purview from teaching the controversial portions. Meanwhile, education minister MA Baby, who visited Union human resources minister Arjun Singh in New Delhi, said the senior Congress leader was wondering why there was such a hue and cry over the book.
The local administration department has served a notice on Kalpakanchery village panchayat in Malappuram district for passing a resolution banning the disputed Class VII social science book. The department views the resolution as a case of abuse of power. Though the 73rd amendment delegates administration of schools to civic bodies, they can’t step into academic affairs like formulating curricula. The department may now take punitive actions against the panchayat.
Kalpakancherry and Edayar panchayats, both ruled by the opposition Muslim League, had adopted resolutions against the social science textbook, condemned by the Church and the Muslim leadership as “anti-religion” and “atheist”. The Left Democratic Front government, which has launched a campaign through affiliated student associations and academics’ collectives to defend the book, is yet to take up the case of Edayar panchayat.
“The panchayat has no right to strike out parts of curriculum. It is nothing but abuse of power. The department will take strict action against the civic body if it does not correct the mistake,” local governance minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty said. The education minister has also warned schools of punitive measures if they try to blackout the controversial parts of the book. An expert committee formed by the government is having a relook at the book.
Meanwhile, Muslim groups took a lesson from the Catholic Church in turning places of worship into mobilisation centres.
After the bishops circulated letters against the Left government and its education policies to be read out during Sunday mass, Muslim clergymen in most of the mosques used the Friday prayers to criticise the textbook for its secular tones. Posters near the mosques exhorted the believers to reject the book, which “propagated atheism and civil marriages”.
s_don@dnaindia.net
