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Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress party's Kerala state chief on Thursday handed over to the government a report of a panel it had formed to study the controversial passages in a school textbook.
Party chief Ramesh Chennithaala was accompanied by opposition leader Oommen Chandy when he handed over the report on the Grade 7 social studies textbook to Chief Minister Achuthanandan. The state government had also appointed a committee to study the textbook.
Chennithala and Chandy said the chief minister assured them that he would go through their committee's report and take appropriate action.
They said they had brought to the notice of the chief minister the growing trend of school children in Kerala leaving the state syllabus and favouring other syllabi. They said this trend was being triggered by the poor quality of the state syllabus, with the grade 7 textbook being an example.
Strong support
The opposition alleges that the controversial lesson in the textbook paints a poor picture of religions and encourages atheism in a general sense. The government has refuted those claims.
The opposition has received strong support from the Christian churches in the state, the Muslim community in general and some Hindu groups. However, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam representing the powerful Ezhava communtiy has said it did not find the book objectionable.
The issue has further flared up with the Mancherry municipal council voting in favour of the book being withdrawn.
The Syro-Malabar church has also demanded a total withdrawal of the book rather than alterations in some lessons. However, the Congress party state unit has said it would be satisfied with the withdrawal of the controversial portions in the book.
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