I love reading about Indian history. Don’t remember being so fascinated about the subject while I was at school. Though I can recall reading out from my sister’s history books when she was at college.
It was a couple of books at a later date that generated more interest in Indian History. One was ‘Freedom at midnight’ by Larry Collins and Dominique Lappiere and another even later ‘Vanthaarkal Vendraarkal’ by Madhan. Then graduated to Kushwant Singh’s ‘India’ and John Keay’s ‘India:A History’. And every time I read one such book my interest only goes up.
But this piece was prompted seeing my daughter’s struggle for her model exam. She is just in 7th standard, nothing to really bother about exams. What I see in her books is a dampener though. It is just a series of unpronounceable names doing the same thing like killing siblings to get to the throne, do 10 stupid things against one really good reform. How come what Sher Shah Suri did to Humayun matter now? And that too, when it really doesn’t change much like missing an episode in a mega serial? The poor thing is really struggling with the names and the spellings.
I can’t really prescribe a solution to this. History is so interesting and also important for one to know. But, NCERT manages to kill that interest in people by making it syllabus. Is this information even going to stay in their minds? Is it relevant for passing a board exam? Why cant these subjects be an elective, with no exams to take? Not surprising that an eminent personality like RK Narayan calls exams as a 'culmination of all sadistic impulses :)
At the end of the day, right from the 09th standard annual vacation, students get into coaching classes for JEE and strive to become an engineer and get into the modern temples like IIT, IIM. No one wants to become a historian and even if they do, most parents and friends will treat them as outcastes.
In a terrible situation like this, why would someone force feed history I don’t know? And in the process kill a very fascinating read.
It was a couple of books at a later date that generated more interest in Indian History. One was ‘Freedom at midnight’ by Larry Collins and Dominique Lappiere and another even later ‘Vanthaarkal Vendraarkal’ by Madhan. Then graduated to Kushwant Singh’s ‘India’ and John Keay’s ‘India:A History’. And every time I read one such book my interest only goes up.
But this piece was prompted seeing my daughter’s struggle for her model exam. She is just in 7th standard, nothing to really bother about exams. What I see in her books is a dampener though. It is just a series of unpronounceable names doing the same thing like killing siblings to get to the throne, do 10 stupid things against one really good reform. How come what Sher Shah Suri did to Humayun matter now? And that too, when it really doesn’t change much like missing an episode in a mega serial? The poor thing is really struggling with the names and the spellings.
I can’t really prescribe a solution to this. History is so interesting and also important for one to know. But, NCERT manages to kill that interest in people by making it syllabus. Is this information even going to stay in their minds? Is it relevant for passing a board exam? Why cant these subjects be an elective, with no exams to take? Not surprising that an eminent personality like RK Narayan calls exams as a 'culmination of all sadistic impulses :)
At the end of the day, right from the 09th standard annual vacation, students get into coaching classes for JEE and strive to become an engineer and get into the modern temples like IIT, IIM. No one wants to become a historian and even if they do, most parents and friends will treat them as outcastes.
In a terrible situation like this, why would someone force feed history I don’t know? And in the process kill a very fascinating read.
2 comments:
The syllabi for NCERT have changed their content with every change in the regime at the Centre. No wonder you are flummoxed... history textbooks are no more the lessons from the past, its the platform for our super-egoist jingoistic politicians to flaunt their clout and carry out their own political agenda
History , at one time was allegedly written by the Victors.
Now they are writtem by vandals
And the worry about the possibility of chidren hating history because of this :(
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