Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 261 Research Article Public Debate on NCERT History Textbooks: Analysing Tweets on Mughals Seema Shukla Ojha Professor of History, Department of Education in Social Sciences, NCERT Email: seema.ojhancert@gmail.com Abstract In April 2023, NCERT brought out rationalised textbooks, which generated heated debate on social media. The present study examined this recent public debate on Twitter (now X) over the supposed removal of Mughal history from NCERT history textbooks by analysing tweets for nearly a month. The study sought to find out how X was used to share information and opinions. The findings show that X posts have both a direct and immediate effect on the perception of public opinion and that a better understanding of how different viewpoints shape the debate on X is highly important. The findings also bring forth a possibility to identify potentially misleading information on the platform. How all this puts greater responsibility on organisations like NCERT in bringing textual material or in anticipating responses to changes/modifications made in its textbooks or its future textbooks and in responding to them effectively are other aspects highlighted in the paper. Keywords: History debates, textbook controversy, Twitter, X, rationalisation, Mughals Introduction The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘debate’ as ‘a serious discussion of a subject in which many people take part’ (Cambridge University Press, n.d.). Among all disciplines, the history curriculum, syllabus and textbooks invite the most controversies. This is because history deals with issues of nationality, culture, and identity. In the past, these debates took place in books, media, and academia, but they now also take place online and on social media. Social media has brought a phenomenal shift in public debate and in also influencing people. This makes social media important for researchers to provide insight into how it engages the public in controversies. It can also inform policymakers because while social media can be used to encourage democratic participation, it can also be used to spread misinformation. We can provide insight into how information is exchanged, how people connect on social media and the outcomes of those efforts by looking at platforms like Twitter. In July 2023, Twitter was rebranded as X. Therefore, except in a few places, where context demanded, X has been used throughout the paper instead of Twitter. History Textbooks and Public Debate In India, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been entrusted with designing the national curriculum frameworks and syllabuses for all school stages and preparation of model textbooks. These textbooks are adopted and adapted by different states. However, many states prepare their own textbooks. However, several Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 262 state boards consider the NCERT syllabuses as guidelines for developing their syllabuses and textbooks. The NCERT textbooks in history have been at the forefront of public discourse since the first textbooks were brought out in the 60s. However, there have been debates over some state textbooks. This kind of public debate, though, is not limited to India. The world over, curricula, syllabi and textbooks in history have been in discussion over the interpretation of certain facts, events, personalities, the presence or absence of some historical facts, overemphasis on certain things, errors, outdated information etc. Botero (2009) states that, because of their public nature, history and social science textbooks are always open to debate as “many people feel they have the right to give their opinion about them regarding the information that is present or absent, the interpretations they make of historical facts or processes”(p.471-472). Danino (2016) says that no nation can escape historical controversies because history defines our identity. He also draws attention to the irony of Indian history, which, on the one hand, has often been despised by school children but, on the other hand, is very much alive in public space through numerous debates, often kept alive by the media, which brings daily reports of claims and counter-claims about historical distortions, ‘controversial’ topics and scholars, writing, and rewriting of history textbooks and so forth (Danino, 2016). There have been efforts to look at some of these debates. Banerjee (2007), in ‘West Bengal History Textbooks and the Indian Textbook Controversy says that school history curricula and textbooks have always reflected power politics, where the ruling party exercised influence over the entire exercise of teaching school history. The paper ‘Conflicts in Indian History Textbooks: Between Avoidance and Abundance’, highlights the Indian textbook controversy between 1998 and 2004 and elaborates on how history textbooks during this period interpreted certain events as conflicts and included or omitted these (Guichard, 2009). ‘Politics and the Writing of Textbook’ highlights that history textbooks developed after independence exhibited a particular ideology (Danino, 2015).In ‘Textbook Controversies and the Demand for a Past: Public Lives of Indian History’, author of the Chapter ‘Clothing: A Social History’ in the Class IX NCERT history textbook mentions one such controversy, which created a huge uproar (Nair, 2016). History is an interpretative subject. Botero (2009) says that “textbooks have so many different facets that they can be analysed from various angles and perspectives” (p.467). Sometimes textbooks are criticised because they are politicised because they include certain contents and eliminate others because they include distortions or half-truths (Botero, 2009). Sometimes, controversies erupt over not mentioning the source or reference of a claim or historical fact (Bharath and Bertram 2008).In ‘Understanding Public Discourse on History Textbooks in India’ Ojha (2022) considers the lack of multiple viewpoints and perspectives in history textbooks as one of the reasons for controversies. Besides these, no attempt has been made to date to analyse a public debate over textbook content in history on social media. This study seeks to expand our understanding of the way the public responds to such debates by analysing tweets regarding recent rationalised content on Mughals. Studying social media is a valuable way to analyse the public as a whole. Examining communication on X provides us with a mirror to examine the ways people share information, especially in regard to controversies over history textbooks. Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 263 Rationalisation of History Textbooks and Recent Public Debate: Context And Chronology During the Pandemic - COVID-19, students struggled to complete their education through online and other methods. Many children were unable to make much progress. The NCERT responded to these needs by undertaking several initiatives, like online sessions on Swayam Prabha, Alternative Academic Calendar, etc. Studies reveal that learning gaps have developed (Kuhfeld et al.2020; The Center for Research on Education Outcomes, 2020). In such a situation, if students were given the same textbooks without any change, it might have been detrimental to their further education. Concerns related to curriculum load were already raised by the Parliament Standing Committee (Rajya Sabha, 2021) and other stakeholders. In this context, NCERT rationalised textbooks to facilitate a speedy recovery. A general understanding of the term ‘rationalization’ means ‘making a change in something to make it more efficient’ (Oxford University Press, n.d.).  The criteria used for rationalisation by experts and teachers were: a. overlapping of similar content in other subjects of the same class. b. similar content in the lower or higher class in the same subject. c. high difficulty level d. easily accessible content that does not require much intervention from the teachers and can be learned through self-learning or peer learning. e. content not relevant in the present context or outdated (NCERT, 2022). Using these criteria, some chapters/ topics were dropped, some were merged, and some parts/sentences were modified. In the case of history, experts ensured that the chronological framework of textbooks and important concepts were not disturbed. This exercise took place in 2020-2021. The details were made public in 2022- 23. However, rationalised textbooks came out on the market in 2023. No sooner than the textbooks came, the rationalised content drew the attention of social media, especially the portrayal of the Mughals in history textbooks. It became one of the most debated topics in recent Indian history public debates. This debate began on April 2, 2023 with news on X informing the Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) government’s decision to drop the Mughals from its history textbooks. Soon, it started trending on X with hashtags #Mughals #historytextbooks #NCERT #Mughalhistory etc. Supporters and critics began sharing information and opinions on this. Social media was crucial at the start of this discussion, as well as how it was maintained, and ultimately it became a mainstream media topic. History Textbooks: Before and After Rationalization Presently, Indian history is taught at the Upper Primary and Higher Secondary stages. The syllabus for Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels says that “Les- sons have been introduced to chrono- logically ordered histories of India in classes VI to VIII. These histories will not be repeated within the same format in classes XI and XII. Instead, the fo- cus would be on certain select themes, which will be examined in some depth” (NCERT, 2005, p.93). At the Higher Sec- ondary stage, a thematic approach has been adopted while maintaining a broad chronological framework. The table (1) on the history textbook for class VII, Our Pasts-II, shows the broad changes following rationalisation. This textbook now has eight chapters, of which the Mughals are discussed in three chap- ters- one, four and ten (NCERT, 2022). Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 264 Table-1: Chapters in the history textbook for class VII, Our Pasts II S.No. Our Pasts II (Before Rationalization) Our Pasts II (After Rationalization) 1. Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years Introduction: Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years 2. New Kings And Kingdoms Kings And Kingdoms 3. The Delhi Sultans Delhi: 12th to 15th Century 4. The Mughal Empire The Mughals: 16th to 17th Century 5. Rulers And Buildings Rationalized 6. Towns, Traders And Craftspersons Rationalized 7. Tribes, Nomads And Settled Communities Tribes, Nomads And Settled Communities 8. Devotional Paths To The Divine Devotional Paths To The Divine 9. The Making Of Regional Cultures The Making Of Regional Cultures 10. Eighteenth-Century Political Formations Eighteenth-Century Political Formations The class XII history textbook Themes in Indian History is available in 3 parts (NCERT, 2022). The table (2) shows the broad placement of themes in 3 parts: Table-2: Themes (Retained and rationalised) in the history textbook for class XII, Themes in Indian History, Part I, II & III S.No. Themes in Indian History, Part I Themes in Indian History, Part II Themes in Indian History, Part III 1. BRICKS, BEADS AND BONES The HarappanCivilisation THROUGH THE EYES OF TRAVELLERS Perceptions of Society (c. tenth to seventeenth century COLONIALISM AND THE COUNTRYSIDE Exploring Official Archives 2. KINGS, FARMERS AND TOWNS Early States and Economies (c.600 BCE-600 CE) BHAKTI-SUFI TRADITIONS 140 Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century) REBELS AND THE RAJ 1857 Revolt and Its Representations Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 265 3. KINSHIP, CASTE AND CLASS Early Societies (c. 600 BCE-600 CE) An IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA (c. fourteenth to sixteenth century) COLONIAL CITIES Urbanisation, Planning and Architecture (Rationalized) 4. THINKERS, BELIEFS AND BUILDINGS Cultural Developments (c. 600 BCE-600 CE) PEASANTS, ZAMINDARS AND THE STATE Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth- seventeenth centuries) MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT Civil Disobedience and Beyond 5. KINGS AND CHRONICLES The Mughal Courts (c. sixteenth- seventeenth centuries) (Rationalized) UNDERSTANDING PARTITION Politics, Memories, Experiences (Rationalized) 6. FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION The Beginning of a New Era Originally, Part I of the textbook had 4, Part II had 5 and Part III had 6 themes. However, this arrangement and selection of themes didn’t go unchallenged. An analysis of letters received in NCERT from 2005-2020 shows many stakeholders accusing NCERT of omitting important themes and periods of Indian history like the entire Vedic and Post Vedic period (2000-1500 BCE), 600- 1000 CE and the period of the growth of nationalist consciousness (1858-1915) and omitting personalities like Shivaji, MaharanaPratap, Prithviraj Chauhan and others (Ojha, 2022). Now the rationalised textbooks have 4 themes in each part. The Chief Advisor (2014) of history textbooks stated that the “class XII syllabus is formulated in such a way that each chapter becomes an exploration of one particular kind of source” (p.108). The Syllabus for Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels mentions sources for each theme (NCERT, 2005). It mentions Ain I Akbari for theme 8 and Akbarnama and Padshahnama for theme 9. It’s important to note that Ain I-Akbari is one of the three books of the chronicle Akbarnama, written by Akbar’s court historian Abu’lFazl. Thus, both themes 8 and 9 focused on similar sources, i.e. chronicles. The syllabus document (NCERT, 2005) further says, “Each theme in class XII will also introduce the students to one type of source... Through such a study, students would begin to see what different types of sources can reveal and what they cannot tell” (p.93). Unlike other themes in the textbook, theme 9 did not discuss the limitations of the chronicles Akbarnama and Padshahnama as a source. Themes 8 and 9 discussed the same time period, the c. 16th-17th centuries. Theme 8 discusses society and economy, while theme 9 discusses the political history of the Mughals. Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 266 Social Media: Sharing Of Information and Its Impact Social media platforms serve as significant information gateways and public opinion formation agents. Since its founding in 2006, X has drawn millions of users. On X, users write their thoughts in 280 characters each, called ‘tweets’. X has methods of connecting tweets to larger themes, specific people, and groups. Messages can be connected to one another by using a hash symbol called “hashtag” (Murthy, 2011). This links all messages into a searchable list, where individuals can visit the main X page and search for a hashtag to find all tweets containing that tag. On X, users have their own usernames called ‘handles’, which are used with an ‘at’ symbol (e.g. @abcd). Any tweet using the said symbol then features on the user’s timeline as a ‘notification’ for further conversation. By “following” other X users, users can build a live feed of tweets. Every time a person posts a new tweet, it is immediately visible in their feed and can be read, “retweeted” or reacted to in a direct tweet. Members thus establish a network of contacts via which they send or receive information. Gaisbauer (2021) says “Due to its open platform design, user interactions on Twitter might, of all major social media platforms, come closest to what is commonly referred to as ‘public debate”(p.1). X is a public forum where users share other people’s ideas, publish their own, and collaborate to form public and draw in new followers. He says that prominently featured standpoints on this platform are reinforced in traditional media because journalists often incorporate social media, especially Twitter, as an established news source in their daily routine; journalistic content or events on television are discussed on the platform in parallel and Twitter content is often explicitly used to represent the public opinion (Gaisbauer, 2021). Several studies tried to study the impact of social media on public opinion. The study Twitter Use in Iranian, Moldovan and G-20 Summit Protests Presents New Challenges for Governments by Ems (2009) found that Twitter was used to “organise protests, get information to media outlets about the protests, or to avoid police in the streets during protest” (para.9). Regarding the usage of Twitter in protests and its effects on protest participants, Grossman (2009) notes that in addition to promoting democratic engagement, Twitter may also be utilised to disseminate false information or to locate and intimidate dissidents. Murthy (2011) contends that individuals might use Twitter to record noteworthy occurrences using photos and videos and to share information. In this context, he talks about the 2008 Mumbai blast, when eyewitness stories posted on Twitter attracted so much traffic that the Indian authorities asked Twitter to cease updating the feed, fearing that terrorists were utilising it for planning. Politics and Twitter Revolution by John H. Parmelee and Shannon L. Bichard (2012) discusses how quickly tweets grow in number and how they connect with their intended audience in local, national, and global political contexts. It examines the reasons behind the rising use of Twitter and how it affects people. The study Opinion Formation on Social Media: An Empirical Approach by Xiong and Liu (2014), investigated how opinions evolve on Twitter. They discovered that the public’s view on Twitter frequently fluctuates quickly, then quickly settles into an ordered state, and once the public’s opinion has stabilised, change becomes difficult. They found that Twitter users are more prone to try to influence others’ ideas than they are to acknowledge changes in their own opinions (Xiong & Liu, 2014). Social Media: Usage and Impact by Hana S. Noor Al-Deen and John Allen Hendricks (Eds.) (2012) is an important book Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 267 which examines several social media channels. It addresses various ways in which social media might be used to persuade individuals. SocialMedia and Political Change:Capacity, Constraint and Consequences by P.N. Howard and M.R. Parks (2012) highlight that social media impacts society as a whole. Talking about the role of social media in history, Catherine Fletcher (2020), in History Today, says that “social media favour the quirky, the visual, the gruesome, salacious or conspiratorial. There’s a certain tabloid headline quality to it all and, while that can be fun, it has real problems” and cautions historians while using this platform by saying that, “under pressure to promote an exciting piece of research, it can be all too easy for historians – even those with the best of motivations – to buy into social media’s more worrying tendencies”(para 3). Thomas Cauvin (2022), author of Public History: A Textbook In Practice, echoes the same concern, “Paradoxically, in proportion to the level of interest in the past, the presence of trained historians in public space is relatively limited. Even worse, the public space is full of ready- to-use statements and opinions about the past that reflect a general lack of historical understanding”(para 2). Objectives of the Present Study The study attempts to understand the recent public debate over NCERTs rationalised history textbooks by critically examining X responses and offers insight into the various sides of this discourse. It attempts to bring out the extent to which public opinion could be influenced through such debates, as the image created on the platform not only affects how public opinion on certain issues is perceived by its users, but by society in general. For this, public activity on X for one month i.e. April 2023, was taken into account. Methodology The researcher first drew up a list of several topics significant with their public participation on X in April 2023 related to the rationalization of NCERT history textbooks and then selected the topic of the removal of Mughals from history textbooks. This topic was ‘trending’ on X for some days and had significant public participation. X does not permit the publication of substantial volumes of raw data. The researcher used the software tool TrackMyHashtag to extract tweets based on search terms and dates. Hashtags #Mughals #Mughalhistory #NCERT #ncerthistorytextbooks were used to identify these. The content analysis method was used for critical evaluation of the discussion. A purposive sample of X response for the first three days (3rd, 4th and 5th April) was selected. A total of 1500 tweets were obtained by selecting the latest 500 responses from each given day for study. Each tweet was looked at as a separate unit of analysis. A few tweets have more than one phrase. Some had nothing but single words, hashtags, or hyperlinks. These were taken into consideration because they were all related to the subject. The researcher developed a list of categories for tweets on the topic. These were general information sharing, referral, opinion sharing, public outreach, and linguistic and visual sharing. General information sharing included information regarding the complete removal of Mughal history from history textbooks. The referral category focused on tweets that referred to outside information like URLs/hyperlinks (of articles), pictures, or videos. Any opinion stated in the tweet was considered to be part of the opinion sharing. Tweets with public outreach were those that targeted followers or media and famous people for attention Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 268 (often in the form of requests for retweets). Lastly, linguistic and visual features included things like imagery, jokes, memes and other similar things (Fig.3). Figure-3: Some memes shared on X using #NCERT over supposed removal of Mughals from history textbooks The researcher performed a theme unit analysis in addition to a referential unit analysis and developed three themes. These were: expressing anger over the removal of content on Mughals (#Removing Mughal history could limit students’ understanding of Indian history, #By removing Mughals, you can’t erase history. Where will you hide LalQila and other monuments?, #Removal of Mughal history will bring a glaring gap from the early 16th to the mid 18th century), expressing satisfaction over the removal of content on Mughals, expressing displeasure over erasure (#Mughals should not be deleted but corrected. #Mughal history should be taught in detail to bring out the truth). Result and Discussion Using the previously described categories, the researcher examined tweets. First, the researcher looked at the tweets’ format, e.g. their originality, contrasting original content with user-retweeted content. The analysis revealed that 61.2 per cent of tweets were retweeted, suggesting that most users prefer to resend other people’s messages rather than write their own. This suggests that users repurposed content from other people’s posts in their own network of followers because they could relate to it. They rely on other community members to provide them with stuff to share with their followers instead of creating their own messages. A second category examined was that of targeting. In targeting, a user can choose to send an open message to their followers or a directed tweet to another user using their screen name. 68 per cent of the messages in this category were directed or meant for other users. The researcher looked through the tweets for any references that contained links to websites, images, or videos. There were several referrals in a few tweets. A total of 581 tweets (38.8 per cent) included a referral of some kind. Referrals to videos (13.9 per cent) and URLs or hyperlinks to other websites (24.4 per cent) were the most common types of referrals. It is evident that X was used as a means for information Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 269 sharing because general information about the removal of content on the Mughals accounted for 24.5 per cent of all tweets shared. Public outreach was mentioned in 16.2 per cent of all tweets. 10.6 per cent of tweets were directed towards celebrities or members of the mainstream media, pleading with them to take notice. This suggests that X can be employed as a means of attracting attention. The presence of opinions in each tweet was also examined. The findings showed that opinion sharing was present in one-third (38.2 per cent) of all tweets. When it came to the removal of the Mughals, the majority of X users had negative opinions (22.9 per cent), which were followed by positive opinions (7.3 per cent). The findings imply that the great majority of thoughts about the Mughals that were shared through different hashtags were opposed to their removal. When paired with the theme analysis, this suggests that, at least when it comes to using structured hashtags, people who support the erasure are not nearly as active as those who oppose it. The tweets’ verbal and visual elements, including jokes, sarcasm, and memes, were evaluated. 20 per cent of the tweets had some combination of visual and verbal elements. Slang was the most prevalent language element (11.3 per cent), with humour coming in second (8.9 per cent). These findings suggest that there is a particular lingo that members of the community on X utilise. The essential frame in the tweet was found with the aid of thematic analysis. The primary goal and content of each tweet were determined by the researcher through careful examination. Viewing the primary idea of each tweet regarding the erasure of the Mughals was made easier by comparing the themes. Anger was the most prevalent theme in the tweets (28.5 per cent). There was a reference to news articles or other tweets with clear opinions expressed in them. This suggests that rather than using X as a means of spreading knowledge, those debating the erasure of the Mughals mainly utilised it as a forum for their opinions. Expressing satisfaction (24 per cent), which would include favourable impressions of the erased, was the second most popular theme. Displeasure (22.1 per cent) was the next most popular theme. As evidenced by the significant number of stories that emerged in newspapers or portals (Ramakrishnan 2023; Thapar 2023; Roy 2023) following the debate on X and echoing the same critical thoughts, X seems to have an influencing role. According to the study’s overall findings, X is largely a tool primarily used for sharing information, along with opinions, to create a unified community and mobilise individuals to see an issue in a particular way. Limitations To begin with, the accuracy of the information shared in the tweets cannot be guaranteed. Furthermore, there are no assurances that the people posting are who they claim to be or are carrying out their stated activities. It is impossible to find out if users responded to tweets until you get in touch with them one- on-one. The date range and sample of 500 tweets every day represent another constraint. Subsequent studies ought to examine a more extensive time period and a greater number of tweets. Additionally, tweets that were pertinent to the subject matter might have been accidentally excluded by the hashtag selection. Even if we employ a variety of hashtags, using online social media always carries the danger of missing important information. Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 270 Conclusion As stated earlier, the NCERT prepares model curricula, syllabi and textbooks, which are available for adoption or adaptation by states. In the past few years, the U.P. government has started adopting NCERT textbooks. The public debate on the removal of Mughals from the history textbooks of the state grew so huge that the state education minister had to clarify that they have not made any change in the history textbooks as they follow NCERT textbooks. Whatever change is being reported has been made by NCERT. Suddenly, the debate shifted to NCERT and people in general and the media in particular started questioning NCERT. Director, NCERT, in a number of interviews explained the rationale and context of the rationalization. An article, ‘Textbooks for the Times’, by NCERT, also appeared in the newspaper The Indian Express (Sridhar et al., 2023), which explained the idea behind this exercise and responded to the queries raised recently on the removal of Mughals. It stated that allegations about deleting the Mughal period are completely wrong as “the textbook for class XII Themes in Indian History, Part-II, has another theme on the Mughals covering the same empire and time period… based on identical sources of history… The Mughal rule is also covered in the history textbook for class VII, Our Pasts -II, under the themes of ‘Introduction: Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years’, ‘The Mughals (16th to 17th Century)’, and ‘The 18th Century Political Formations”. The article suggests seeing the content of textbooks from classes VI to XII in totality. However, this clarification didn’t stop the debate and a number of articles and editorials, appeared daily in mainstream media and other news portals. This indicates that social media has great power to influence people. The analysis of the debate on X in reference to rationalised history textbooks shows that the allegations levelled against NCERT of the complete erasure of Mughals from history textbooks are not true. A major section on Mughals is still part of the textbooks. However, users’ continuous engagement with the topic and its frequent coverage in the mainstream media by journalists and some historians raises some pertinent questions on the credibility of this social media platform and also on the role of some historians, who echoed the reaction to the X against the complete removal of the Mughals in their articles. In such cases of controversies, the voices of historians are critical in providing an honest assessment based on evidence. Millions of users currently access historical content on social media. Few people explore an issue further by reading books or articles. This is apparent in this debate also, where, from politicians to journalists to common people to celebrities, many people got involved in this discourse, without going into the detail or trying to find out the truth. The rationalised textbooks are available in the public domain for anyone to cross-check and see. The findings show that some historians selectively took up issues and presented their views partially with lots of twists and wrong claims. The study reflects the general understanding of people, too, with regard to the content of history textbooks. Many who lamented the erasure of Mughals mocked NCERT and the government by saying that in the absence of Mughals, mention of personalities like Shivaji and Maharana Pratap would automatically disappear. It shows that people, in general, believe that textbooks cover contemporary history and rulers, whereas the fact is that there has been hardly any mention of these personalities in these textbooks. The finding also tells us about the perception of people in general who consider textbooks as the only source of knowledge and seem to believe that history cannot be understood without Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2024 271 specific segments. The findings raise some questions about the role of NCERT in communicating these changes. The NCERT made public rationalised tables in 2022 but did not provide a specific explanation for those rationalised chapters/sections, and that’s why when this debate started, people didn’t have ready reference material to look for. Though NCERT immediately clarified and explained by that time, it was too late. This requires bodies like NCERT to publish full information on any effort to choose, revise, or modify curricula, syllabi, or textbooks and offer an opportunity for informed public debate and discussion whenever such a situation arises. 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