पाठ्यपुस्तक महामंडळाने सर्वांसाठी पुस्तके तयार करण्याचे ऐतिहासिक कार्य खूप चांगल्या रीतीने केलेले आहे. हुशार (सबल समाजघटकांमधील) विद्यार्थ्यांना अद्ययावत ज्ञान देणे आणि सर्वांच्या पचनी पडावे असे ज्ञान (दुर्बल समाजघटकांसाठी) देणे अशी दोन पस्परविरोधी उद्दिष्टे साध्य करण्याची कसरत यशस्वीपणे केल्याचे श्रेय शासनाला द्यायला हवे. अशा धोरणामुळे शिक्षणाचे सार्वत्रिकीकरणही धड झाले नाही आणि अद्ययावत ज्ञानही नीट आले नाही अशी टीका करणारेही आहेत. दहावीपर्यंत समान पाठ्यपुस्तके आणि नंतर फक्त अभ्यासक्रम निश्चित करून हवी ती पाठ्यपुस्तके वापरण्याचे स्वातंत्र्य हे धोरण दीर्घ मुदतीत यशस्वी ठरेल असे वाटते. या संदर्भात टी.सी.ए. श्रीनिवास राघवन ह्यांच्या लेखातील काही भाग पुढे दिलेला आहे :
'' In fact, I would go even further and say that from within the set of educationists who have specialised in school level education, we need a good school principal rather than some pedagogue with a pet theory to test when he gets the chance....
''This is because despite pretence to the contrary by so-called experts, school education at the macro level is largely about two things only: a reasonable syllabus and a good textbook. The rest is mostly mumbo-jumbo.
Syllabi are so out of kilter because people with hobby horses have been put in charge of devising them. As for textbooks, the whole thing is a gross commercial racket, with the result that what we produce is utter and complete rubbish. (Indeed, why not just import them? If ever there was a case for jettisoning the policy of import substitution, it is for school textbooks). And if these two things were fixed, the problems with the examination system would also be sorted out very quickly.
In
With the exception of history, where all countries like to present versions that are doctored in some manner, all other subjects lend themselves to this method. And yet, thanks to so-called experts and politicians, there is neither consistency nor agreement. It need not be so.
One way out of the problem is to have good textbooks. By and large Indian textbooks are terrible. The reason is either too much competition as in the ISC system, or none at all as in the CBSE system.
The former refuses to prescribe textbooks, probably on the grounds that it leads to enticements being offered to teachers by publishers. The worst case is when heads of departments in schools co-author textbooks with some junior. The CBSE, favouring standardisation, simply offers the NCERT books.
The net result, if you are a teacher, is having to choose from what is for all practical purposes a null set. This leads to garbage in (and in exams) garbage out. Can anything be sillier, especially if the whole thing can be set right with a little import competition?
My son has two imported textbooks printed under licence in
