Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has dismissed as malicious SAD’s allegation of deletion of chapters about Sikh Gurus from the Class XII history book of the Punjab School Education Board.Lambasting Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders for trying to spread misinformation on a sensitive religious issue, the Chief Minister said the Akalis had shown gross irresponsibility by making a baseless public statement without bothering to check on the facts.The fact was that the courses had merely been realigned with the NCERT syllabus to enable the students from Punjab to compete at the national level, said the Chief Minister, making it clear that not a single chapter, nor a word, had been deleted by the Board. The history chapters had been now spread across Classes XI and XII, on the recommendation of an Expert Committee, of which a SGPC representative was also a member, he added.As per the Committee’s recommendations, the Board had earlier restructured the Physics and Chemistry courses, and had now realigned the History books to make the course more relevant, in line with the NCERT syllabus.
Since the Committee had felt that the students should be exposed to Sikh history from Class XI itself, the chapters on Punjab and Sikh history had been shifted to Class XI, while India & Modern History as well as Modern Sikh History had been moved to the Class XII syllabus, the Chief Minister said.Far from removing any chapter on the Sikh Gurus, the Board, under his directives, had in fact incorporated chapters on the lives of the four Sahibzadas in the school text books to ensure that the youngsters also learn of their sacrifices, along with the history of the Sikh Gurus, the Chief Minister said.Urging the Akalis to refrain from indulging in cheap politics over an issue related to the religious sentiments of the people of Punjab, the Chief Minister said it was extremely unfortunate that SAD, which claims to be the guardians of the Sikh religious ethos, was repeatedly resorting to abusing religion to further their political interests.