From ‘Advantages of Dowry’ to ‘U for Ugly’: When Indian textbooks got things horribly wrong

An image from a sociology textbook for nurses has gone viral on social media, but for all the wrong reasons – a photographed section lists the “merits and advantages” of the dowry system.

Reportedly picked from the Textbook of Sociology for Nurses by TK Indrani. which is a reading material for nursing students and it has been “written as per the Indian Nursing Council syllabus”.

The viral image has received strong rebuke from all quarters as netizens, including Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.

In a response to the book’s controversial section, the Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) has raised a complaint with the publishers and sought the withdrawal of the text.

However, this is not the first time a textbook has caused a furor for its controversial content, let’s take a look at all the times education was in the wrong:

Misrepresentation of history

In 2002, the NCERT books of social science for class VI and IX caused an uproar for misrepresenting history and pushing factual errors as part of the curriculum.

As per a report by India Today, the books located Madagascar Island in the Arabian Sea instead of its actual place in the Indian Ocean and describe the Russian revolution as a mere coup by Lenin.

In a chapter on major religions in the Class VI textbook, Islam and Sikhism find no mention. Similarly, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse was missing from the Class IX textbook.

PoK as Azad Kashmir

In 2012, an exercise book prescribed for class three students at an Army school in Srinagar depicted Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as "Azad Kashmir".

The controversy surfaced when it was found that the map practice exercise book for schools run by Army Education Welfare Society showed PoK as "Azad Kashmir".

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), however, distanced itself from the controversy by maintaining that the exercise book in question was brought out by a private publisher and not of the NCERT which it prescribes for class one to class eight students.

More advantages of dowry

The ongoing controversy isn’t the first time that the advantages of the dowry system have been listed in a textbook.

In 2017, a textbook of an undergraduate course in a reputed Bengaluru college described dowry as "a useful and effective method" for "attracting good, handsome, and sometimes unwilling boys for marriage."

In February, 2017, a textbook for Class XII in Maharashtra also found to contain outrageous reasons for the dowry problem in India.

It said that “if a girl is ugly and handicapped, then it becomes very difficult for her to get married. To marry such girls, the bridegroom and his family demand more dowry”.

“Parents of such girls become helpless and pay dowry as per the demands of the bridegroom as family. It leads to rise in the practice of dowry system," the textbook says.

Kill a cat to know the importance of oxygen

In 2017, a class VI Environment textbook depicted an experiment that showed two cats in separate boxes.

As per a report by DNA, ‘Our Green World’, brought out by PP Publishers, explained an experiment underlining the importance of oxygen for living beings.

In the said experiment one of the cats was kept in a closed box without holes while the other was in a box which had oxygen supply. It suggested that if the student were to replicate the experiment, s/he would find the first kitten dead in the box.

‘U for Ugly’

In 2020, the West Bengal government suspended two women teachers in East Burdwan district on the charge of teaching pre-primary students from an English alphabet book consisting of a portion derogatory to the people with a dark complexion.

While presenting the alphabets with corresponding words and images, the book says U is for “Ugly”. The illustration printed beside the letter is that of a boy with a dark complexion.

“The book is not part of the textbooks referred to by the education department. It was introduced by the school itself. We have zero-tolerance for acts which instil prejudices into the minds of students,” Education Minister Partha Chatterjee had said.

With inputs from agencies

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