Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court of India’s intervention in the controversy over alleged remarks disrespecting the judiciary in an NCERT Class 8 textbook, and called for a comprehensive investigation into recent textbook revisions.

In a Facebook post, the minister lauded the apex court’s strong stand against references that allegedly undermined the judiciary. He said providing students with misleading messages about the judicial system was a serious offence and described the inclusion of content that belittles constitutional institutions as extremely unfortunate.

“The younger generation must be taught to respect constitutional institutions,” Sivankutty said.

The minister also demanded that all recent textbook revisions and deletions carried out by National Council of Educational Research and Training be examined by an independent expert committee.

“It must be investigated whether there were attempts to distort history and constitutional values,” he said.

Sivankutty pointed out that Kerala had earlier opposed what he termed unilateral deletions by NCERT and had published additional textbooks incorporating key portions removed from the national curriculum.

“Those who led the preparation of the controversial content and those who approved it should face strict action. The NCERT Director and others concerned are bound to provide clear answers to the questions raised by the court,” he added.

According to the minister, the state’s position is that a comprehensive inquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court is necessary, and that communalism or anti-constitutional tendencies would not be allowed to enter the field of education.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court imposed a blanket ban on the Class 8 NCERT book that includes a chapter on corruption in the judiciary. The court ordered the seizure of all physical copies of the textbook and directed that its digital versions be taken down.

The apex court further instructed the Centre and state authorities to comply with its directions immediately and warned of “serious action” in case of any defiance.

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The top court also issued show-cause notices to the NCERT Director and the school education secretary, seeking explanations on why action should not be initiated against those responsible for the contentious content.