The News Minute | November 13, 2014 | 8:30 pm IST
Making headway as a new state, Telangana has planned to replace history and culture of Andhra Pradesh depicted in the syllabus of its state board with some of its own.
Not just history in textbooks are to be replaced, the government which has appointed a new committee to review the issue has also considered discussions regarding a change of dialect as the two neighbouring states have slightly differing dialects.
The government has also planned to introduce topics like the Bathukamma and Bonalu festivals and also introduce the history of the Telangana movement for independent statehood. Additionally, works of famous writers and poets from the region are being considered to replace the works of literature from Andhra Pradesh writers which is currently depicted in textbooks.
T. Ravi, a political analyst told The News Minute that “Basically, every time a new state is formed, the syllabus is revised according to the history of the new state. Telangana is no exception. It is inevitable that the syllabus is revised but the new syllabus should have an objective and positive appraisal of Telangana and should also accept that undivided AP was a part of the state’s history.”
He suggested that the syllabus should be comprehensive and the ruling parties should not let subjectivity creep in to the syllabus.
He also added that “The first struggle for separate statehood happened soon after India’s Independence but it is highly overshadowed because it was led by communists.” The textbooks should include that as well.
Much of the culture of the region evolved as a result of the environment people lived in. While the Kakatiya rule led to evolution of dance forms such as Perini Sivatandavam, the influence of the subsequent rule by the Qutub Shahis and the Nizams made qawallis, ghazals and mushairas the sought after cultural events in Hyderabad and surrounding areas.
Gautam Pingle, who authored a book about the history of the state titled, “The Rise and Fall of Telangana” told The News Minute that “Just like it is important to know the history of a country, it is also important to know the history of the state.” He also said that the present can only be analyzed if the past is understood.
He said the 2 states only shared the common trait of language and added that “The two states of Andhra and Telangana have always had their own histories and backgrounds with a part of Telangana being governed by the Nizams and AP being ruled by the Vijayanagar dynasty.”
Experts seem to agree with the fact that the syllabus of Telangana should be changed but also strongly feel that the state should acknowledge its 60 years of history with its neighbor.
The TRS party, which is the current ruling party in the newly formed state, had promised to include the history and culture of the state in the school textbooks in its manifesto.
If everything goes according to plan, the state government plans to discuss and implement the ideas proposed by the committee in the curriculum of the 2015-16 academic years.