Change begins with quality textbooks.

At right side is an extract from the page of Hindi book being taught in a renowned school of tier 2 city of India. Now just a plain look at the page illustrates my point !

We cannot brush such blunders as oversight or ignorance. Is there any benchmark for schools to decide which books to keep or discard . How can such words even make their way into a school textbook meant for young children of class one!

What baffled me more is that the teacher diligently made the children solve the question in class with exactly the same words . Neither a parent complained nor the teacher felt the obligation to improvise. It was brought to my notice by an acquaintance who knew that I often visit such schools to interact with children in my free time . The school principal logically agreed to change the book for coming academic year and sensitize teachers in general as well . However this is no solution to a systemic problem. There is no standard benchmark or filter as to what content goes into our textbooks.

Are our school textbooks actually addressing the right issues in right manner. Every sensible parent knows the answer- ‘ unfortunately NO’.