NCTB chair, member again summoned over distortion of history

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday summoned the chair of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and a member of the institution to appear before it on November 29 to explain mistakes and distortions of history in textbooks for secondary and higher education.

The High Court bench of Justice Ashraful Kamal and Justice Md Shohrowardi gave the order following a supplementary petition filed by Md Alamgir Alam, a guardian of a student of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College.

Lawyer Ali Mustafa Khan represented the petitioner in the court while Deputy Attorney General Barrister Kazi Mainul Hasan represented the state.

Alamgir filed a writ petition last year, pointing out at least 500 mistakes and distortions of history in various textbooks for secondary and higher education.

After that, on September 26, the court summoned the NCTB chair and a member of the institution to explain mistakes and distortions of history in the textbooks.

Also, it issued a rule questioning asked to explain why their failure to prevent distortions of history in the books would not be declared illegal.

The education secretary, NCTB chair, its member (curriculum), and NCTB secretary were made respondents to the rule.

The court also asked the respondents to explain why they would not be directed to amend the distortions in the books.

Mustafa said: "The NCTB chair and a member appeared before the court last year and said there would be no such errors in the textbooks of the academic year 2022. As most of the mistakes remain, they were summoned to appear before the court next Tuesday, reports UNB."