The Kerala government plans to issue an additional booklet containing content on the Babri Masjid demolition and other topics recently removed by the NCERT.

Dr Jayaprakash R.K., the director of the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), said on Friday that once the curriculum sub-committee finalises the chapters, these will be restored through new booklets.

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class XII political science textbook refers to the Babri Masjid only as a “three-domed structure” built at the birthplace of Lord Ram. This year, chapters on L.K. Advani’s 1990 Rath Yatra and the 2002 Gujarat riots were among those deleted.

Expressing opposition to the NCERT’s decision, Kerala’s primary education minister V. Sivankutty emphasised that true history and science should be taught.

“Kerala does not accept the NCERT’s move to change the syllabus covering the Babri Masjid-Ayodhya topics. Textbooks should not containthe narrow ideological positions/propaganda of any single movement. True history & science must be taught instead. This is Kerala’s policy,” Sivankutty posted on X.

While Kerala state board schools follow textbooks prepared by the SCERT until Class X, over 40 NCERTtextbooks in various subjects are prescribed for Classes XI and XII.

NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani justified the removal of the Babri Masjid reference, arguing against teaching violence and hatred.

Jayaprakash confirmed that the SCERT will provide newly prepared chapters instead of merely restoring deleted NCERT content. This follows a precedent set last year when the SCERT issued booklets covering omitted chapters on topics such as the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mughal kings and the Cold War.

“We provide freshly prepared chapters based on whatever has been dropped by NCERT. The procedure is the specific subject’s sub-committee that decides on thecontent of chapters would ask us to come up with textbooks or additional booklets.Once we get clearance we will print and issue them to schools,” he added.

The curriculum committee comprising 72 members is divided into subject-specific sub-committees thatdecide on the contentsof textbooks.

The removal of references to the Babri Masjid has faced widespread criticism. Political analysts Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar have requested the NCERT chief to remove their names from the textbooks, disagreeing with the changes made under their advisory roles and threatening legal action if their names are not removed.