The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education thinks that the history of Mughals and Western countries is irrelevant for class VII & IX students. The revised textbooks of History of these classes will revolve around the Maratha Empire with warrior king Shivaji in the forefront and his generals and post 1960 Indian politics.
The committee members stated that the change in the syllabus is not a “political decision” but an elaborate process involving teachers and subject experts. The head of the committee Sadanand More said “The point of reference for Class VII is the Maratha Empire, Maharashtra and India before and after Chhatrapati Shivaji. In Class IX, the point of reference is events impacting Indian political scenario”.
Previously the history textbooks of class VII & IX contained chapters on the Mughal Empire and its contribution along with pre-Mughals Muslims rulers in India such as Muhammad bin Tuqhlaq and Razia Sultana, the first woman to rule Delhi, Sher Shah Suri etc. The textbooks also contained a detailed history of events that affected the Western World such as the American War of Independence, Greek Philosophy, French Revolution, etc. All these chapters are now being reduced to a few lines in the history textbooks of class VII & IX.
The new syllabus of class VII & IX of the State Board of Maharashtra will include details about the Maratha Empire with Shivaji the warrior king along with post-1960 Indian politics. The old textbooks stated the Maratha Ruler Shivaji as “People’s King”, but the new textbooks have renamed it as “An Ideal Rule”. Now the textbooks will include detailed history on Shivaji and his family, Maratha generals and their roles in medieval India. There is no mention of ‘rupaya’ which was the first currency introduced by the Afghan invaders. The revised textbooks of class IX had been into controversy in the last few months with the Congress leaders objecting to a chapter in the textbook mentioning the Bofors deal.
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