Gaffes galore in Class VI textbook in Tamil Nadu

By V Gangadharan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on July 30, 2010:

CHENNAI: Did Tamil get its Classical language status ‘according to the idea’ of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi? Can a person who is 18 years of age contest elections in India?

It is ‘yes’ for both questions if one were to go by the Social Science textbook for class VI students, which has been brought out under the Common School Syllabus (CSS).

The book, replete with gaffes – factual errors, grammatical mistakes, wrong spellings, improper choice of words and contradictions – misinforms: “Arignar Anna named the State as Tamil Nadu in 1967” while the renaming took place in 1968. A lesson on Vedic Age names “Senai” as an official who assisted the Raja while the correct term is “Senani.”

That the author has been caught in a time-wrap is evident from the usage of country names like Ceylon (for Sri Lanka) and Burma (Myanmar) and saying that “Athichanallur is in Tirunelveli district”, when the excavation site is now in Tuticorin district.

In the wrong usage of language falls the sentence “They [people of Indus Valley Civilisation] were experts in making pots out of terracotta”, and the howler: “Tamil Nadu was ruled by the descendants of Chera, Chola and Pandyas.”

Finally. as if to rub it in with another dose of incredulity, it says ,Samudragupta has been credited with conquering ‘11 republicans’ Was George Bush one of them?

HERE ARE SOME OF THE BLOOMERS IN THE CLASS VI SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOK UNDER THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM

Matter of rule Page 80: "Tamil Nadu was ruled by the descendants of Chera, Chola and Pandyas." Though the statement may not be entirely incorrect, the appropri ate sentence could have been some thing like this: "Chera, Chola and Pandya dynasties ruled the State."

Basic errors Page 105: "The Gandhara art which combined the Indo-Greek style made new statues of Buddha and Bodhisatvas." Archaeologists say Greco-Bactrian style is the correct expression.

Also, an art by itself can not make statues! Definition of a corporation in the textbook: "Cities with large population are called corporations."

FACTUAL ERRORS

Page 14: The text says those who have completed 18 years can contest elections. The fact is the minimum age eligibility to contest elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies is 25 years. For the Rajya Sabha and legislative councils it is 30 years

Page 19: It says people directly elect chairpersons to municipalities, whereas the reality is councillors elect the chairpersons.

Page 80: "Arignar Anna named the State as Tamil Nadu in 1967."The State was renamed officially only in 1968.

A lesson on Vedic Age names "Senai" as an official who assisted the Raja. The correct term is "Senani"

Page 94: While dwelling on Jain religion's five doctrines, asatya is translated as non-stealing when the actual meaning is untruth.

The same page names Nanmanikadikai as a Jain religious literature and says that it was a contribution of a Jain.
However, it was not written by a Jain, and it speaks only of ethics and not of Jain religion Thinaimalai Nootraimpathu is described as Jain religious literature. Though the author might have been a Jain, actually, it was a work consisting of 150 romantic verses of post-Sangam age.

Page 96: "Even today Buddhism is followed in Ceylon, Burma."Long ago, Ceylon became Sri Lanka and Burma was renamed Myanmar

Page 67: "Athichanallur is in Tirunelveli district." But the fact is, it is in Tuticorin district.

SPELLING MISTAKES

In many pages `wagged war' has appeared instead of `waged war'

Page 106: Samudragupta conquered `11 republicans.' It should have been republics.

Also, for the same word different spellings have been used. For example: King Asoka and Ashoka.

Bad English: "Chandragupta of Mauryan Dynasty invaded parts of West India which were annexed by the Greeks under the leadership of Alexander and extended the Mauryan Dynasty." Only an empire can be extended and not dynasty!

"According to the idea of Kalignar, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Central government had announced Tamil as a classical language in 2004. From this we know the fame of Tamil."

ANOTHER TYPO:

The only apositive aspect about the textbook is the cover page wrapper (pic). An artwork, the wrapper seeks to portray the evolution of humans from pre-historic times. But the artist's name is wrongly printed as "Maniyan Selvan," while the correct name is (popular as Ma Se, son of legendary artist Maniam) "Maniam Selvan"