Venkatesh, K. 2017. Negotiating the ‘Social’ in Elementary School Social Sciences. Economic and Political Weekly, LII (24): 169-172.
Table of Contents
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Brief Overview
The paper begins by raising the fundamental question of what constitutes Social Science at the school level in the specific context of division of textbooks into disciplinary areas.
Debate around social sciences
The argument of Mills (1959) is used to resolve the debate of including the older discipline of History into the younger social science. Mills propounded that social sciences entail coming back to the interactions of biology and history.
National Curriculum Framework 2005 and Social Sciences
Using this and the National Curriculum Framework 2005 as the focus, the paper explores the possibility of an alternative conception of Social Sciences that challenges the trifurcation of the discipline at present undertaken at the elementary school level.
Further, it questions the relevance of teaching Social Sciences with its explicit focus on building a national identity with specific focus on the “values enshrined in the constitution”, as was in the 1950s and 60s.
The author points out that the subject is not divided into History, Geography and Social and Political Life when it is discussed in the National Curriculum Framework 2005. However, this trifurcation is followed at the time of preparation of the textbooks as well as while teaching. There is no attempt to explain how the sub units are connected with the large rubrics of Social Sciences.
Central Argument
The author proposes initiating the teaching of Social Sciences with the history of human evolution from animals to civilized beings. The social nature of human engagement will thus form the basis of discussion on the evolution of social systems. The author undertakes an analysis of NCERT textbooks of class six to highlight that the focus in the textbooks is on presenting an Indian history rather than a universal history, even where the topics addressed are universal rather than national. The same is true for textbooks of civics and geography, in senior classes.
In conclusion, the paper argues for a greater focus on the societal rather than the national in the teaching of Social Sciences.