From Chalk To Cheese

Out of necessity is born a good idea. With the new NCERT books being full of "inaccuracies", the Delhi government has decided to go ahead and create its own textbooks. Come March '04 and all government schools in the capital will have books that use the characteristic features of Delhi—its local flavours, monuments, historical localities and even the metro rail to make learning more interesting for students.

The state government has employed leading educationists to write the books for Delhi schools. Their brief: to make the textbooks exciting for children. A first for the state, chief minister Sheila Dikshit says she is determined to see the exercise through (see box). "We decided it was time Delhi had its own textbooks and we wanted the best of minds to work on them," she says.

The chief minister says she had no problems with the old NCERT books and would have happily reprinted them. But the NCERT refused permission and insisted that the new books which have controversial 'distortions' be used. This left the Delhi government with no other alternative but to write its own books.

The Delhi government has asked the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to anchor the novel venture. Besides a Delhi flavour, the Indradhanush Series of 47 books for classes one to eight has interactive sessions with musicians like Ustad Bismillah Khan and Amjad Ali Khan. A walk in the bylanes of Chandni Chowk will

be described through a tale by Ruskin Bond. A story by Mahashweta Devi is followed by an interview with the author where she explains the context to children. Senior professors are taking out class five children on a metro rail ride so that the technological breakthrough can be understood experientially.

The minutest detail has been kept in mind. Each book of the Indradhanush Series will be colour-coded: blue for science, green for mathematics. There will also be a logo for each class—butterfly for class one, squirrel for class two. The idea is to familiarise parents with the textbooks, even if they are not literate.

For the purpose of "contextualising" the dry facts, the authors are studying Delhi in a way it hasn't ever been before. "For instance, we have professors counting the number of Gulmohar trees in Gulmohar Park to explain the name of the locality to schoolchildren! The story of the Ridge too is being narrated in the books. We want the children to place themselves in their unique geo-cultural setting. Delhi is a very historical city and narrating its story is also telling the history of India in simpler terms," says Janaki Rajan, director, SCERT.

Science subjects will see a lot of experimentation. Senior professors from Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia, scientists of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bose Institute of Advanced Studies and Institute of Advanced Studies in Education will help creating books that involve children in learning practical lessons in basic science to make it that much more fascinating. "We are involving teachers in the writing of the textbooks. That, I think, is the biggest usp of this exercise. They share their classroom experiences regarding the actual problems children face in learning science. We are also proposing that a simple experimentation kit—that has basic equipment like magnets, magnifying glass etc—be made available to children along with these books," says Prof Amitabh Mukherjee, Centre of Science Education, Delhi University, who is involved in the project.

For mathematics, the government has engaged Dr Hriday Kant Dewan and Dr Rohit Dhankar who are both consultants to several state governments under the World Bank-dpep programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. They have also been active in the popular Lok Jumbish educational programme in Rajasthan."It seems like a dream. We are explaining the world to the children through their immediate surroundings—things that they can identify and relate to. We are taking care to make the books gender-sensitive, environment-friendly and interactive. Let's hope they set standards even for private publishers," says Prof Krishna Kumar of the Central Institute of Education, Delhi University.

Despite the excitement the venture has generated among academicians and bureaucrats, the Delhi government wants both the media glare and ideological interference out. "It is a very exhaustive and delicate process. The idea is to produce world-class textbooks for poor children studying in municipal schools. We don't want unnecessary controversy," says Rajan. Time is of the essence too. Rajan says the basic material, including layouts and designs, has to be ready by October-end. "This is the first time that all the books for primary and middle-level students are being written together. We have very little time."

The Delhi government is determined to bring the books out before schools start next year. "Textbook writing was never as innovative," is how Dikshit put it. The moral is simple: if you're afraid of the dark, take off the blinkers.