Form of words:
Hyderabad: Some privately published supplementary study material for school children has sparked a controversy in Telangana for the image of a masked man, labeling the Muslim holy book Quran as a “terrorist”.
The issue was flagged off by a Twitter user Shaik Aslam on Saturday, who posted an image of a portion of a book titled ‘Real Life Beyond Text Book’, a social studies aid book for class 8 students.
It insults Muslim students, teachers and community, and also leads to destroy the unity and integrity of the country, I demand that immediate action should be taken against those responsible for writing and approving the book. 2/2 @asadowaisi @thenameis_Mr__J
— Shaik Aslam (@_Shaik_Aslam) September 24, 2021
He tweeted, “It insults Muslim students, teachers and community and also lead to destroy the unity and integrity of the country.”
Responding to Aslam’s tweet, another user Gani Kateb shared the same picture from another supplementary book for class 8 students published by VGS Publishers.
“Not only one but many publishers published it. One example is from Hyde from VGS Publisher. I took it from my sister’s stuff,” he tweeted.
It has been published by many publishers, not just one. An example from VGS Publishers Hyde. I took it from my sister’s stuff. The publisher should apologize and remove the offending material and reprint the new version.@sqmsood @amer_javed @ashapriya09 @ Syed Kashf95 pic.twitter.com/GN3VSOK1lq
– Ghani Khatib ني يب (@gani_khateeb) September 24, 2021
ThePrint reached out to VGS Publishers for comment on the matter via phone call and email, but did not receive a response till the time of publication of this report.
Meanwhile, the publisher of the books in the “Real Life” series is yet to be identified.
question bank or guide
These books are different from the official textbooks published by the government for the Telangana State Board, and are known as ‘study materials’, ‘question banks’ or ‘guides’. They are published by private companies based on the syllabus of the state board and are widely used as supplementary material by the students in Telangana.
While government schools in the state have to use textbooks published by the state board, private schools in Telangana are free to use any book.
“There is no official authority for such study materials and they are very widely used by students in both the states (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh). They cannot be called illegal as firstly there is no rule for them These publishers have their own experts and they publish the content,” said Venkat Reddy, convener of MV Foundation, an independent organization working for children’s right to education.
These books are also easily available in stationery stores across the state and can be found online.
“There are lakhs of such copies from different publishers in the market and lakhs of students use them. Even government school teachers use such material informally,” a senior Telangana education department official told ThePrint.
‘Discriminatory, full of hatred’
After the photos surfaced on social media, the publishers were kicked out by several people, including prominent city activist Khaleda Parveen, who demanded action from the government.
“Why is the book on Social Studies in Telangana misleading the students? How can one design a man who was designated as a terrorist with the Quran in hand and a gun on his shoulder? Stop it immediately (sic),” Parveen tweeted Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Telangana unit of the Student Islamic Organization of India, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Called The so-called terrorist pictured “discriminatory, hateful and Islamophobic”, and demanded immediate action from the government.
Amjad Ullah Khan, leader of the political party Majlis Bachao Tehreek, also urged the government to confiscate all material and register a criminal case.
“Telangana DGP Sir, note the Class VIII Social Studies work book published by Real Life Publisher, which depicts a man as a terrorist carrying a holy book, who has hurt the sentiments of Muslims, against him. File a criminal case and confiscate all material (sic). Khan tweeted on Sunday.
In 2018, Telangana Government was also banned Schools prevent students from providing guides and study materials, stating that prepared answers harm children’s ability to think.
NS 41,000 schools 26,800 are run by the government in the state, in which about 23 lakh students study. More than 32 lakh students are enrolled in about 11,000 private schools. About 600 schools are aided.
(Edited by Rachel John)
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