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Illustrating Social Studies in School Textbooks

The use of cartoons as illustrations in National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) Political Science textbooks has recently attracted attention from leaders across the political spectrum. Textbooks have been burnt and the government has set up a committee to inquire into the appropriateness of using cartoons in school textbooks. Unfortunately, it appears that there is a widespread lack of understanding about why cartoons should have been included in textbooks in the first place. It is often believed that the only purpose of a cartoon is to lampoon. Hence, it appears that in the NCERT textbooks, too, the cartoons were intended to mock and belittle. The job of textbooks is thought to be to simply lay down the truth according to the state. The fresh approach to using illustrations taken in the present NCERT social science textbooks, however, is largely unknown to many who express themselves vociferously and shrilly in the public sphere on the NCERT cartoon controversy.