Attack on Past & Present

School textbooks present a version of history at odds with Kashmiri recollections

- By Ishfaq Naseem IS SENIOR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, OUTLOOK. HE IS BASED IN SRINAGAR

ADIL Nazir, 19, believes the revocation of Article 370 has left young Kashmiris at a disadvantage. He says the change has opened up land and jobs in the Union Territory to 'outsiders', leaving locals with fewer opportunities. However, the views of Adil and many of his student peers, stand in sharp contrast to what they actually study in their class 11 political science lessons, both from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and from the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE), where the abrogation of Kashmir's special status and the wider history of the region are presented somewhat differently.

School textbooks present a version of history at odds with Kashmiri recollections. While Valley leaders call the revocation of Article 370 a setback, the class 12 NCERT text says militancy and Pandit migration persisted despite it, framing its removal as justified, and portrays Dogra rulers as welfare-oriented despite local memories of oppression under their regime. The backdrop lies in the Centre's August 5, 2019 decision to scrap Article 370 and downgrade Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory, carving out Ladakh separately. Recasting Dogra rulers as heroic is seen as aimed at Hindu-majority Jammu, where the BJP won all 29 seats in 2024.

In a school in Budgam, housed in a low-roofed single-storey building along a narrow lane, a teacher leafed through a textbook in a small classroom where only a few students sat at their desks. The teacher said the new syllabus had changed how history was taught. “The chapter on ‘Formation of Erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State and the Dogra rule’ has now become ‘Unification of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and Dogra Rulers,’ with the revised version praising the administration of Dogra rulers.

I think that is what the official history is now. We know history has been rewritten, but we can’t teach any other history to the students,” the teacher said, requesting anonymity.