NCERT Lands In Soup Again! Hindi Titles Given To English Textbooks

First deleted key historic facts, then removed periodic table, and now, using Hindi titles for English books in Roman script, the National Council Of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has landed in another controversy. NCERT's latest move has break a long-standing tradition of recognising language medium from the title of the book.

For example: Class 6, English text book was earlier titled as Honeycukle, but now it will be known as Poorvi. Similarly, textbooks for Classes 1 and 2 are now named Mridang, and Class 3 text books have been titled as Santoor.

NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani's textbooks renaming decision has created confusion amoung students and parents. Also, it is being asked that why this decision doesn't apply to all subjects.

For example, the new science textbook for Class 6 has been titled Curiosity in English, Jigyasa in Hindi, and Tajassus in Urdu.

The same goes for social science textbooks, as they have been named as Exploring Society: India and Beyond in English, and Samaj Ka Adhyayan: Bharat aur Uske Aage in Hindi.

NCERT's latest decision to change titles of textbooks has sparked many questions like:

1. What was the need of changing English book title to roman script?
2. If it was necessary, then why changes were not done in all subjects?
3. At a time when NEP 2020 is being questioned for enforcing Hindi in Southern states, is educational body trying to enforce Hindi using Hinglish?

Sharing his thoughts on NCERT's latest move, a retired professor, on the condition of anonymity, said using roman scripts may affect students' language. Also, they may pronounce the titles wrong.