EDITORIAL : THE HINDU, INDIA

Theatre of the absurd

In ordering the deletion of certain cartoons and words from a number of social and political science school textbooks, the committee constituted by the National Council for Educational Research and Training appears to have followed the line of least resistance. First the two cartoons that have generated political controversies were promptly sent to the trash tray; and then, many, many more. With a mandate to review the textbooks and identify educationally inappropriate material, the panel headed by S.K. Thorat was expected to take a detailed look at all visual material with the help of subject experts. But the number of cartoons erased and the flimsy and even bizarre reasons given mark the whole exercise as politically coloured from beginning to end. Many of the changes seem to have been recommended with the interest of the political and bureaucratic classes in mind, and not on pedagogic grounds. Some cartoons are to be removed because they convey a “negative message” about politicians and bureaucrats, others because they are politically “sensitive”. A few cartoons were seen as too “ambiguous.” Surely, these cannot be grounds for exclusion while preparing instruction material to develop critical thinking among students in Classes XI and XII. Indeed, going by the suggested deletions, the “politically sensitive” argument looks tailor-made to ensure the removal of cartoons seen as causing offence to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

As the dissenting member of the committee M.S.S. Pandian sagely notes, what is perceived as “politically incorrect” need not be “educationally inappropriate” for students being initiated into critical thinking. The National Curriculum Framework from which the current textbooks sprang broke new ground precisely because they sought to encourage young learners to ask questions for which there may not be a single correct answer. True, the authors of the textbook may have gone overboard here and there; a sensible, nuanced review could have easily set things right. But the deletions now being ordered defy all reason and commonsense. For example, an American cartoon in which the Republican and Democratic parties are shown as an elephant and donkey is to be dropped because “politicians and institutions are represented as animals.” This despite the fact that the two animals are party mascots! Agreed, there is nothing sacrosanct about the textbooks and the cartoons they carry. Other cartoons and other textbooks could have served the pedagogic purpose just as well. But inclusion and exclusion of material in textbooks cannot be carried out, as the Thorat committee has done, keeping in mind narrowly defined political sensitivities and imaginary community sensibilities. It will be a matter of national shame if its recommended deletions are accepted by the NCERT.

Return of the old guard

Enrique Peña Nieto’s win in Mexico’s presidential polls marks the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which enjoyed seven decades of power until 2000. Breaking the stranglehold of the drug mafia and crime syndicates which are said to have claimed as many as 60,000 lives in recent years would be among the most formidable challenges facing Mr. Peña Nieto, who will take charge only in December. In a hotly debated campaign, the outgoing conservative party, PAN, was not in the reckoning, largely due to President Felipe Calderón’s track record on tackling crime and his failure to enact economic, energy and education reforms. On the other hand, second-time contestant Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Party of Democratic Revolution merely managed to narrow the lead Mr. Peña Nieto enjoyed earlier in the opinion polls. The campaign acquired immense momentum over the past few months also on account of the surge in popularity of the pro-democracy student-led Yo Soy 132 movement. The PRI’s controversial nexus with a prominent media group lent the poll process additional sting. The pervasive resort to violence and intimidation during previous polls led Mexico’s election authority this time to seek a commitment from political parties to honour the popular verdict and to denounce violence during the electoral process.

Despite the return of the ‘old guard’ that the PRI represents, multi-party democracy in Mexico is here to stay. Presented as the PRI’s new face during the election campaign, Mr. Peña Nieto, governor of the State of Mexico until last year, knows only too well the reasons his country has been punching below its economic weight in the region. The introduction of growth inducing measures might well be the answer to the gross inequalities which are a fact of life in the country. The incoming President would draw much comfort and courage from the fact that his country weathered the aftermath of the 2008 global financial and economic crisis better than its mighty northern neighbour, the United States, even as it was battling the H1N1 flu pandemic. Mr. Peña Nieto’s ultimate triumph, however, would be winning the war on drugs that his predecessor never really waged. But this will require greater cooperation and sensitivity on the part of the U.S., where the lack of control on deadly assault weapons, not to speak of the demand for drugs, fuels the violence that has exacted such a heavy toll on ordinary Mexicans from all walks of life.