Controversy erupts over Preamble published on Class 10 textbook cover without words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’

PTI, Jun 24, 2023, 8:31 AM IST

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has got mired in a controversy following the publication of the Preamble of the Constitution on the cover page of a school textbook allegedly without the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’.

The SCERT, however, maintained that the error occurred due to oversight.

The Telangana State United Teachers’ Federation (TSUTF) submitted a representation to the secretary of education department on Thursday complaining that the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ were “removed” from the Preamble published on the cover page of the class 10 social studies textbook published by the SCERT.

The two words were included in the Preamble through the 42nd Constitutional amendment, the TSUTF recalled.

However, the Preamble, including the two words, was published in the pages inside class 8 and 10 social studies books, it said.

At a time when there is a debate “across the globe” that secularism was in danger in India, the publication of the old Preamble “the way some people want it” instead of the one that is in force gives rise to several doubts, the Federation claimed.

It said that the error was a major one and that either it happened intentionally or due to oversight.

The Federation urged that the correct Preamble be published and sought tough action against those responsible for wrongly publishing the Preamble, after conducting an inquiry.

Meanwhile, the SCERT said the error was inadvertent.

“This happened by oversight and unintentionally while downloading the image at the time of designing the cover,” the SCERT Director said.

However, in the inner pages of other textbooks, the Preamble after amendment was printed.

“The error crept in inadvertently,” the Director said.

According to a communique, the official directed all the District Educational Officers (DEOs) to download the image of the Preamble (amended) furnished by it and have it pasted on the cover page of the Class 10 Social Studies textbook.

“Therefore, all the District Educational Officers in the state are informed to instruct all the
Headmasters/Principals of High Schools under all managements to ensure that the image of the Preamble (amended copy) is pasted on the Class X Social Studies textbook, supplied to the schools immediately, duly submitting the compliance report to the SCERT, Telangana without fail,” the Director said in it.