The Textbook Conundrum

By Mushtaq Rather   

Textbooks for sure are indispensable tools to realize the curricular goals and objectives. The designing of textbooks therefore needs to be meticulously organised and crafted to render them more effective and penetrative. So, the job to compile text books in different subject domains requires expertise of the highest order, both, in terms of having mastery over the content matter and clearly defined in-built pedagogical framework. Previously the essence of classroom teaching –learning was central to the nature and type of text book and teacher usually was restrictive and limited in his /her approach while imparting black and white information to the learners and he/she would hardly trespass beyond textbooks to further explore and refine the concepts of the by-gone era learners. The rigid and non-flexible approach on part of the teacher by totally relying on text books in content transmission has fostered the skill of rote-learning  and cramming up of the information by the end user.

NCF 2005, NCF( Foundational stage) 2022 and NCFSE 2023

Education sector has made immense strides over the past couple of decades and has therefore opened new contours and channels in disseminating learning content to the modern day learners. All the National curriculum Framework Documents, be it NCF 2005, NCF 2022  for foundational stage   and National Curricular Framework for School Education (NCFSE 2023) have unequivocally laid down procedural framework on how to effectively achieve the curricular goals and aims by empowering learners as co-creators of knowledge rather than  mere recipients of black and white information. 

NCF documents, although extend a great deal of emphasis to textbooks, strongly  discourage a teacher to be entirely dependent and text book centric. NCF documents, as rightly referred to as Bible of Indian Education is a guiding document for all the relevant stakeholders, especially the teachers and empowers them to move beyond textbooks while exploring the learning horizons and subsequent fine –honing of concepts  from the learner’s perspective. 

The NCF entrusts a degree of autonomy to teachers to judiciously make use of all available resources at hand and even come out of the four walls of the room , when it come to execute constructivist approach of teaching –learning by letting students to construct new knowledge based on their prior experiences , rather than blindly trusting and relying on a single book. Text book is just a guiding path for the teacher and he/she holds absolute discretion to explore requisite ways and means to consolidate the concepts of the modern day learner.

The Unending Textbook Controversy

The controversy around the text books has gained momentum and will certainly remain  a hot topic of discussion for a considerable period of time. It is being debated in every type of public discourse. Even  social media platforms are flooded with memes, reels and discussions on the issue of textbooks. In our part of the world, we have unfortunately limited our understanding of curriculum to mere textbooks only , which is an outrightly wrong notion. Textbooks by no means are curriculum in entirety. The term ‘Curriculum’ is not a restrictive term. We have limited our understanding of curriculum to textbooks which otherwise goes much beyond, with text books being just one entity in the broader domain of curriculum. As per National Curricular Frame Work for School Education 2023(NCFSE), which draws its essence from NEP2020, Curriculum refers to the entirety of the organised experiences of students in any institutional setting towards educational aims and objectives. The NCFSE further emphasises that the elements which constitute and bring life to curriculum are innumerable and include goals and objectives , syllabi, content to be taught and learnt , pedagogical practices and assessment, teaching learning materials, school and classroom practices , learning environment and culture of the institution. So across the landscape irrespective of the school: be it government run institution or private institution curriculum is uniform, however text books might be different. 

Intervention in Right Perspective

The J&K UT government took a pioneering step in the right direction by making it mandatory for every school affiliated to JKBOSE irrespective of the nomenclature to opt for common text books. This decision was not taken in isolation but was a well thought out intervention on the part of the government as grievances flooded from varied quarters especially from the parents regarding the monopoly of private schools and their unholy profiteering nexus with private publishers. The intervention of common textbooks is truly a laudable initiative on the part of the government and has certainly brought a sigh of relief to aggrieved parents. However, vested interest people have created a false notion in the society that JKBOSE books are not the ones framed and designed by subject experts from NCERT. This absolutely holds no water as JKBOSE has the mandate to have a periodic review and updation of the books which in essence are the NCERT books but are to be contextualised by incorporating local content as well. Education experts of the highest order are of the opinion that NCERT books are by no means inferior to the quality and content of private  publications be it Oxford , McMillan, Oswal, Modern , Leads etc. However, the quality of the text paper in case of JKBOSE books is certainly on the poorer side but at the same time as mandated by Right to Education Act (2009) , government has to ensure free textbooks to a whooping number of more than 12 lakh students at the elementary level, where quality of the text paper is bound to nose dive.

Core Problems

Earlier establishing an education institution was considered a not for profit entity and the ultimate motive and purpose was to illuminate and transform the lives of innumerable individuals which in the longer run can result in enhanced intellectual wellbeing in the society. The educational institutions were mainly operated by people having intellectual acumen of the highest order and far-sighted vision. In the current scheme of things private educational institutions are now considered as lucrative business entities and have therefore lured major business players to invest in this sector. This was essentially the need of the hour as well to boost and raise the infrastructural landscape of international standard. The problem started emerging when the private school administration started muddling in areas they were supposed not to interfere in: they literally started vending out uniform and book outlet stores even in school premises or outside school compounds controlled and regulated by them and this has lowered their bar in the eyes of the public. One cannot ignore the contribution and sacrifices rendered by private schools in raising the academic standard across the length and breadth of our country in general and UT of Jammu and Kashmir in particular. However the unholy profiteering nexus between the private school administration and the publishers has fleeced parents to the core by selling books at highly exorbitant rates and parents are left with no choice but to toe their line. The monopoly is of such a magnitude that the books are available at a designated shop only. As it pertains to the education of their child , parents are ready to sacrifice everything and don’t even bargain while purchasing books and uniforms as it is every parent’s desire to let their children have access to quality and equitable education. In the current discourse private school sympathisers are strongly advocating that it must be the autonomy of the individual school to decide the type of textbooks as they believe that private publications like McMillan ,  Oxford , Lucent , Lead etc are the high quality end books and can go an extra mile in letting the acquisition of 21^st century skills among modern day learners. Are the teachers in these institutions equipped with the requisite pedagogical set of skills to ensure the meaningful transaction of the text books? Or they simply believe in the actualization of exercise given at the end of the chapter or unit? What about the case studies , project work , Higher order thinking skills , surveys etc which are an integral component of these text books. Why cannot a school replicate the same set of textbooks for the next academic sessions? Why change text books every now and then? Doesn’t it amount to profiteering and malafide intention? Isn’t it a hoodwink trend to fleece parents? Why is there so much ado about textbooks?  For a versatile and resourceful teacher , a textbook is a mere tool and his vibrant approach without relying too much on text books can take the learners to new echelons of knowledge. For a resourceful teacher, a textbook is  just a skeleton and wrapping the muscles around the skeleton is the responsibility of the teacher to render it a functional combo.

Tailpiece 

The contribution of private schools in raising the bar of academics will be recorded in the annals of history. However, they need to stick to their core domain of providing quality and equitable education rather than turning their institutions into business entities. This will certainly restore trust and faith in the general public. When a drawing book of average quality with 15 leaves is sold at a  price of  510 rupees, then they are certainly answerable both to the authorities and to the general public and their image will further take a downslide, exposing the ill motive of profiteering. 

As far as JKBOSE is concerned, they need to ensure the timely distribution of the full set of textbooks before the commencement of the new academic session. In maintaining the originality and sanctity of the NCERT books, JKBOSE has to ensure the services of the best brains of the department   in contextualising and updating the text books at periodic intervals.

Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer 

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