A Karnataka-based education rights group has accused the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) of trying to saffronise the curriculum through its new Kannada Class 6 textbook, Krishna.The organization, People’s Alliance for Fundamental Rights to Education (PAFRE), has demanded that the book be withdrawn from the current academic year’s syllabus, saying it promotes religious themes while neglecting Karnataka’s cultural identity and diverse food habits.In a statement, PAFRE principal president Niranjanaradhya said the textbook reflects a wider trend of introducing mythology and religious themes in school education within the framework of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. “This is nothing but a project to saffronize the curriculum,” he said.The group also questioned NCERT’s decision to name the textbook Krishna. According to PAFRE, Karnataka’s cultural identity is closely linked to literary and social reform figures like Adikavi Pampa, Kuvempu, Kota Shivaram Karanth and Basavanna.“Karnataka’s identity is rooted in the ideas and contributions of great poets and reformers like Adikavi Pampa, Kuvempu, Kota Shivaram Karanth and Basavanna. Yet NCERT chose the name ‘Krishna,'” the organization said.PAFRE also criticized a lesson on nutrition, claiming that it promotes a vegetarian vision of a balanced diet, leaving out foods commonly consumed throughout the state.“The dish shown in the lesson contains only ragi, roti, rice, vegetables, milk and fruit, while fish, eggs and meat are completely absent,” he said.The organization said this presents a limited picture of Karnataka’s food culture and wondered whether communities consuming pork curry, fish curry and keema balls were being ignored.It is also stated that the textbook portrays vegetarian food as the only marker of a balanced diet. “To portray only vegetarian food as balanced, politics has been brought on children’s lunch plates. This is not education; it is cultural terrorism,” the group said.PAFRE also stated that the textbook does not adequately represent the folklore, literature and lifestyles of various regions of Karnataka, including coastal Karnataka, North Karnataka, Malnad and the Old Mysuru region.The organization asked CBSE to withdraw the textbook from the Class 6 curriculum this academic year and urged NCERT to explain in writing why the book was named Krishna.He also sought the inclusion of references to eggs, fish and meat in the chapter on balanced diets, questioned the exclusion of the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) from the textbook development process, and asked the book to be renamed to better reflect the identity of Karnataka.
