Bhopal gas tragedy to be a part of school curriculum -Governance Now

Bhopal gas tragedy to be a part of school curriculum

Students will also be taught about the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Irom Sharmila

Sonam Saigal | January 12, 2011

National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) put the Bhopal gas tragedy on paper forever by publishing a two page photo essay on the disaster for the students of class VIII.

In the subject social and political life III published by the department of social studies and humanities the black and white illustration narrates the entire incident with haunting captions and descriptions of the event.

“The Bhopal gas tragedy is so prominent that you can’t wish it away. It has become an annual event with the survivors and the NGOs coming to Delhi every year and protesting and demanding for justice. So we wanted the students to understand the working and short coming of our judiciary through it.” said Prof Saroj Yadav, in-charge of textbooks in NCERT.

Even the hindi textbook, Durva for class VIII which is published by the department of language, has a chapter titled, ‘woh subha kabhi toh aayegi’ which narrates the story of a small girl who lost her father in the catastrophe and how till date she hasn’t been able to make sense of what exactly happened on the dark night of December 2, 1984.

Dr Prasad, member-coordinator of textbooks with NCERT said, “Children are also made to do some exercises at the end of every chapter, like for instance for the Bhopal gas tragedy they are asked to make wallpapers with pictures and information about it and then it is displayed in their schools.”

"We also discuss the Narmada Bachao Andolan in class X in political science and bring to the forefront women like Irom Sharmila who are changing the world in their own way," he added.

The theme of the textbooks for social sciences highlight rule of the law and social justice by explaining laws and amendments with Indian and international case studies for students to comprehend better.

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