A high-level panel for Social Sciences recommended that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) should consider replacing the name ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks in a bid to reframe the way the country and its history is seen by the youth. This news has become a matter of debate amongst students, parents and the school faculty.
Himangi Mirchandani, a student from Saraswati Vidyalaya High School in Thane said, "India already has an identity and just changing the name like that is not so easy even for us students. We like the name India because it is our identity."
Parents also resonated with this opinion with one parent calling the panel's recommendation 'unnecessary'. The parent, Pratibha Mirchandani who lives in Thane said, "We are known worldwide as India today, and this would set an incorrect example to the children. This will drastically change the value children today hold towards India." Her ward studies in Saraswati Vidyalaya.
Some principals and teachers agreed with the panel's opinion that school textbooks should refer to India as 'Bharat'. A principal from a school in Mumbai said, "The change in curriculum is about taking India to the future it deserves. King Bharata first integrated small cities and towns into one country."
Another teacher, Ami Parekh from Orchid International in Mumbai said, " There is nothing wrong with renaming India as Bharat after the great King Bharat Chakravarti. India is a name given by the Britishers. I feel proud that India will again be known as Bharat."
A student, Aashi Singh from a school in Varanasi thought that 'Bharat' feels more related to the country's culture. Another student, Aditya Singh from Varanasi said, "It does not matter because India and Bharat both are the same. It is definitely a big change but to change it completely is up to NCERT."
The NCERT is updating school textbooks to match the National Education Policy (NEP) of the year 2020. The council put together a 19-person committee called NSTC. The main agenda of this committee is to decide what students will learn, what books they'll use, and what materials they'll need for these classes and provide a revised curriculum.
