The Karnataka Education Department has included Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Hedgewar’s speech as a lesson for the Class 10 students.
The lesson on Hedgewar’s speech, which is included in the syllabus as the first language Kannada textbook prescribed for the SSLC (Class 10) students for the academic year 2022-23, is likely to create a stir within the state.
The lesson is titled: “Who should be your real role model?” According to IANS and it is kept as the 5th chapter in the prose section. The lessons from the authors, who are staunch critics of the BJP and RSS have been dropped simultaneously, they say.
Textbook Revision Committee is headed by Rohit Chakratheertha, who is considered a right-winger by the progressive thinkers and opposition parties in Karnataka.
Earlier, the revision committee had come into the eye of the storm after Chakratheertha stated that “glorification of Muslim King of Mysuru Tipu Sultan will be taken off from the syllabus”.
The lessons written by Late P. Lankesh, a well-known journalist and critic of BJP, including leftist thinker G. Ramakrishna, have been dropped. According to reports, Vedic scholar, the Late Bannanje Govindacharya ‘Sukanashana Upasana’ and author, noted critic Shatavadhani R. Ganesh’s ‘Shrestha Bharateeya Chintanegalu’ are included.
Meanwhile, the Textbook Revision Committee has maintained that it had not selected the lesson on Hedgewar on the basis of his ideology. Education Minister B.C. Nagesh also had supported the recommendations of the committee.
