How the Hindu Far-Right is Overhauling India’s Schools and Textbooks — The Revealer

Early in April 2024, India’s top educational body quietly made changes to millions of school textbooks. Key amongst these changes was the removal of references to the Babri mosque, a medieval mosque publicly demolished in 1992 by far-right Hindu nationalists, who believed the mosque’s location was home to a former temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Ram. The extra-judicial demolition of the Babri mosque, and construction of a new Hindu temple in its spot, has been central to the growth and success of the country’s Hindu nationalist tilt, and rise of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in power today.

Barely three months after Modi inaugurated the Ram temple in a widely publicized event, the country’s premier advisory body tasked with drafting textbooks removed multiple references to the mosque and its demolition from political science curricula. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has long been at the forefront of guiding school syllabi and drafting content used by more than 40 million students annually.

But as India shifts further to the right, bodies like the NCERT, and the country’s schooling at large, have been collateral damage in an increasingly Hindu majoritarian polity. Schools are now, more than ever, being used to influence the minds of millions of children, with history and science as the most frequently targeted subjects for revisionism.

Educators across the country are taking note and voicing concerns. Apoorvanand, a scholar and professor of Hindi at Delhi University, alleged that there is a concerted effort by the current government to impose their version of history on young minds.

“In their distorted version of history, our ancient past was a golden era; then Muslims came and ruined everything, then the (non-BJP) governments after the independence did nothing and all the work is being done by this government only. This reflects in their understanding of science as well where they want to establish that we had already invented all the scientific equipment in our ancient past,” he said.

Mornings in a Delhi-based branch of the Saraswati Bal Mandir school are a case in point. Before classes begin each day, the school makes students participate in thirty minutes of Sanskrit prayers worshiping Hindu gods. It’s a routine exercise, now followed by thousands of schools across the country.

Several schools that provide affordable and accessible education to millions of children are run by a vast chain of institutions called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right ideological organization and precursor to the country’s BJP Party.

Across India, there is a growing sense of segregation in the classroom, where once-secular institutions now find themselves teaching texts replete with omissions and revisions. Meanwhile, schools run by Christians and Muslims now find themselves under overt attack. Authorities have cracked down upon missionary and convent-run schools that are otherwise popularly sought-after for an English-style education. Elsewhere, school teachers and staff have faced suspension and threats based on allegations of “forced conversions.” Across India, religious minorities (Muslims and Christians in particular) have been targeted frequently with allegations of forcefully attempting to lure others to convert by fraud or deceit. More than twelve Indian states, almost all governed by the BJP, have legislation that criminalizes such forced conversions, and rightwing vigilante groups often press false charges of “forced conversion” to threaten, intimidate, or even arrest Muslims and Christians.

As the country heads towards a critical election year, and as the far-right BJP pushes its idea of a “Hindu First” India, changes in school syllabi and the educational climate are critical to influencing millions of impressionable young people. Through these curricular initiatives, the BJP is working to ensure India will have a Hindu nationalist future.

“Vedic” Science and Rewriting History

Students in RSS-backed schools are not merely told to chant Hindu prayers in morning assemblies, they are even reportedly instructed do leave their shoes outside their classrooms – a practice no different from entry into a Hindu temple. Yet, an additional concern lies in what these supposedly secular schools teach.

Last year, news emerged that Darwin’s theory of evolution, as well as concepts like electromagnetism and discussions on the sustainable use of natural resources, were removed from science textbooks across the country. At the same time, state-run schools are increasingly attempting to bring in subjects like “Vedic mathematics” and “Vedic science,” using what is being pushed as a more indigenous or “decolonial” pedagogy, but is in reality the propounding of Hindu mythological and creationist ideas.

While the education system is erasing accepted scientific theories, they are also purging history textbooks of information about the country’s Mughal rulers (seen as Muslim), and references to a syncretic historical landscape where people with differing religious practices peacefully comingled. Multiple sections in high school history textbooks no longer describe the achievements of the country’s Mughal rulers and Delhi Sultanate, almost as if to minimize their contributions to the country’s culture, trade, archaeology, and their legacy today.

Several of the country’s most famous monuments, including the celebrated Taj Mahal, were built by the Mughals, who also fostered significant trade ties, created a legal lexicon, patronized artisans and literature, and more. The Mughal empire ruled over a substantial portion of the Indian subcontinent for centuries. But right-wing Hindus see them as foreign invaders who looted and plundered Indian and Hindu civilization.

(Image source: Tarushi Aswani)

“Our students will lag behind students of other countries as a curriculum based on Hindu nationalism will limit their knowledge and understanding. No country’s aim is to produce nationalists from schools and it should not be. The goal of the schools should be to educate kids.

Apoorvanand cautioned that the current aim of India’s education system is to produce nationalists. This erasure of history has led to the removal of references linking Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse, to the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP. The curriculum has also been stripped of sections discussing the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat and has been altered without proper justification, according to Pawan, a prominent educator from New Delhi. The rightward shift in India is evident not only in changes to textbooks but also in the religious transformation of formerly secular institutions like military schools. Furthermore, Christian schools and other minority-run educational institutions are facing unconstitutional oversight, raising concerns about the erosion of secularism and inclusivity in India’s education system. The recent removal of references to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in textbooks and attempts to revise history to exclude Muslims reflect a worrying trend of communal bias in educational policy. Concerns have been raised by academics and activists about the implications of these changes, particularly for marginalized students who rely on government-published textbooks for information.

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