Textbooks and Educational Culture

Author(s): Krishna Kumar

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 21, No. 30 (Jul. 26, 1986), pp. 1309-1311
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4375939 .
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PERSPECTIVES

Textbooks and Educational Culture

Krishna
TEXTBOOKSare universallyused but they
do not mean the same thing in different
countries.Their practicaluse in the school's
daily routine and their symbolic function
vary from one educational system to the
next. In some countries, textbooks are
published only by private publishers; in
others, only by the government, In certain
countries, state authorities merely recommend suitable textbooks, leaving school
authorities and teachers free to select the
ones they like; in others, specific textbooks
areprescribedby the state,and no deviation
is expected or allowed. In some countries,
textbooks are purchasedby the school and
provided to children in the classrooms; in
others, it is the childrenwho must buy their
own copies of the prescribedtextbooks and
carry them every morning to the school in
a capacious schoolbag.
Perhaps the most important variation,
from the viewpoint of pedagogy and curriculum,is in the mannerin which textbooks
are used. In some educational systems, the
teacherdecides when she wants childrento
consult a textbook. She preparesher own
curricularplan and mode of assessment,and
she decides which materials, printed or
otherwise, she wants to use. Textbooksare
just one of the many aids available to her.
Such freedomcan only be dreamtof in other
educationalsystemswherethe teacheris tied
to the prescribed textbook. She has no
choice-in curriculum or materials or
assessment. A textbook is prescribed for
each subject, and the teacher has to teach
it, lesson by lesson, until there are no more
lessons left. She must ensure that children
can do the exercisesgiven at the end of each
lesson withouthelp, for this is what theywill
haveto do in the finalexamination.The textbook symbolises the authorityunderwhich
the teachermust acceptto work. It also symbolises the teacher'ssubservientstatusin the
educational culture.
TEXTBOOK-CENTRED

CURRICULUM

Since the use of textbooks, the processof

their production, and their symbolic function in the teacher's daily routine vary so
much, it is wrong to talk of textbooks in a
global sense. Yet, that is what happens all
the time. Pedagogical writings typically
assume that textbooks have a universally
acceptedfunction.And not just pedagogical
writings,eveneducationalplanningexercises
areoften based on the assumptionthat textbooks are a value-free,globally relevantinput. Internationalstudy and aid-basedproductionof textbooksareoften basedon such
an assumption.' Yet, it ought to be selfevidentthat when the WorldBank finances
a project to improve textbooks in the
Philippines,or when a Canadian publisher

tity. Education serves a major role in this

transformation.3
Starting with the second quarter of the
Kumar
nineteenth century, English colonial rulers
took severalimportant decisions regarding
modifies a textbook to make iL marketable
theireducationalpolicy in India. Five of the
in the West Indies, or when a team of textdecisions were:
book writersin an Indianstate organisation major
consults an American textbook to gain new (1) the government would evolve a new
system of education with state control
ideas-in each case, the term 'textbook'
at every stage;
refersto a distinct commodity whose practical and symbolic functions will be shaped (2) the aim of the new system would be to
create a class of Indians acculturated
by the socio-economic and cultural milieu
in English life-style, attitudes, and
in which it will be used. In each case, the
perceptions;
textbook will be a part of the overalleducational culturewhose meaningswill be deter- (3) the teaching of English would be a
means of this acculturation;
mined by the structures of interaction
prevailingamong state authorities,teachers, (4) a systemof grant-in-aidwould apply to
existingindigenous schools, making the
and children.
acceptance of the curriculumand textIn the ordinary Indian school, the textbooks prescribedby the governmenta
book dominatesthe curriculum.The teacher
condition for obtaininggovernmentaid;
is bound by the textbook since it is prescribed,and not just recommendedby state (5) centralisedexamination would be used
to assess students'eligibilityfor promoauthorities.Each child must processhis own
tion and to select candidates for the
copy of the textbook prescribed for each
award of scholarships.
subject,and he must carryall the textbooks
Statecontrolovereducationdid not evolve
along with notebooks (popularly called
'copies') to school everyday. The teacher in conjunction with the rise of a modern
spends most of class time simplifying or welfare state. It took place under the
interpretingthe textbook and familiarising auspices of a colonial governmentand in a
studentswith its content to the point where somewhat dramatic manner within a brief
it can be easily memorised.With some varia- period. This may be one reason why it had
tion in different subjects and at different a distinctly destructive effect on the
levels,the textbook is used for class routines indigenous system of village schools in the
like loud reading,silentreading,comprehen- areaswherethey existed.As Acharya(1978)
sion exercises, recapitulation, homework, points out in the context of Bengal, the
and tests. At all levels of school education, impositionof a centralisededucationsystem
the textbook acts as a substitutesyllabusor killed the spontaneityof pre-colonialvillage
ratheras the operativepart of the syllabus. schools and the local initiative sustaining
Students expect to be examined strictly them. In the decades following the anwithin the limits of what the textbook con- nouncementof the aims of colonial educatains on any topic. For the teacher, it acts tion in 1835,educationbecamerapidlyidenas a structuring device, offering a pro- tified with the statein the publicmind. Since
grammeof sequenced action which applies state power was in the hands of colonial,
uniformlyto all schools within a provincial alien rulers, the association between state
power and education led to a sense of
or nation-wide2system.
dependencey and subservience among
COLONIAL ROOTS
teachers. Fulfilment of routines assumed
My argument in this paper is that the greater importance than personal satisfactextbook-centredcharacterof the school cur- tion in teaching.4
riculum in India is relatedto the historical
CENTRALISED EXAMINATIONS
circumstancesunder which India's present
The policy of centralised examination
education system developed. More specifically, the roots of the textbook-centredcur- made a major contributionto the cultureof
riculumcan be tracedto the nineteenthcen- routinised, textbook-centred teaching.
tury,especially the decades following 1835, Examination was impersonal in the sense
duringwhich colonial policies in education that students were examined by someone
took shape. Before analysing the specific other than their own teacher. Secrecy was
policies that resulted in the textbook- maintained over question papers and the
dominated culture of Indian school educa- identity of the examiner.With its aura of
tion, let us remind ourselves how colonisa- strictness and impartial treatment of all
tion affects the perceptionof knowledgein examinees,the examinationsystemplayedan
a society and ultimately the curriculumof important role in the development of a
its schools. Colonised people are forced to bureaucraticsystemof education.As Shukla
disown their image of the world, and to (1978) has pointed out, colonial policy
accept the image that the coloniser has. The used written examinations to evolve a
colonised man is made to look at himself bureaucratic, centralised governance of
from the point of view of the coloniser,and education. The function of the written,
thus goes througha transformationof iden- impersonal examination in the emerging
Economic and Political Weekly
Vol XXI, No 30, July 26, 1986

1309

July 26, 1986

education system was to evolve uniform
standardsfor promotion, scholarships,and
employment, and thereby to consolidate
governmentcontrol. In the social context,
the examinationsystem instilled in the colonised public mind the faith that colonial
rule was free of prejudice.
In practicalterms,the examinationsystem
requiredstudents to rehearseendlessly the
skills of reproductionfrom memory, summarising, and essay-type writing on any
topic. Studentswereexaminedon theirstudy
of specifictextbooks,not on theirunderstanding of conceptsor problems.Often,specific
portions of textbooks were fixed as this
record of the early days of the new policy
describes:
In 1840, when a uniform Code of Rules
was preparedfor the GovernmentInstitutions, therewas addedto it a list of books
whichwereto be studied,and the subjects
defined
andtheclass-bookswereparticularly
on whichcandidatesfor scholarshipswould
be examined. This scheme still allowed
greaterlatitudeto the localCommitteesand
Mastersin the selectionof class-booksthan
was subsequentlythought desirable;and
in 1845, it was revised, with the view of
obviatingthe evil of too great a varietyof
class-books... A further limitation was
subsequentlyintroducedby fixing, at the
commencementof the year,the particular
books and the exactportionof each which
wereto be studiedfor the next scholarship
exarnination.(Kerr,1852;p 57)
What could not be examined within the
norms of the system-i e, a written, essaytype answer to be assessed by an examiner
unknown to the student-was kept out of
the curriculum,howsoeveruseful or relevant
it may be. This is how theoretical,especially
literarystudy acquireda dominant place in
Indian curricula.Literarystudy fitted niceiy within the frames of textbook-pedagogy
and writtenexaminations.Practicalor vocational skills werea misfit in both framesand
thereforeremained at the periphery of the
curriculum-which is where they still are.
Another implication of the examinationtextbook link was that the curriculum
remainedalien, evenhostile, to the student's
milieu. Since examination was centralised,
it could only accommodatethe most general
kinds of information as opposed to information reflecting a specific milieu. This
tendency of the system was further strengthened by the dominant role that colonial
perceptions played in the selection and
representationof knowledge.Colonial perceptionsof India consistedof broadimpressions of the degeneracyof her culture and
the destructive effects of her climate on
people's character.5Only such 'knowledge'
could be expected to fulfil the agenda of
acculturatingthe Indian student in English
perceptionsaqd attitudes. Any specific or
locally relevantknowledge was beyond this
agenda.As Mayhew(1926)pointed out, any
1310

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

knowledgeof social affairs,politics, or even

one's own life was debarred.The emphasis
on generalised,as opposed to differentiated,
knowledgenicely matchedthe policy of the
compulsoryuse of a singletextbookfor each
subject.
Examinations were the link between the
limitedopportunitiesavailablefor education
and the even more limited opportunities
available for employment. Success in the
examinationbecame the focus of students'
attention and source of anxiety.6 And
among teachers too, examination results
became a source of anxiety when monetary
rewardswere attached to them. Sen (1933)
records how the system of payment-byresults, prescribedby the Education Commission of 1882, caused widespreadeagerness among indigenous schools to enter the
government system of education. Thus,
examinations soon became a shaping influence on pedagogical transaction in colonial institutions.In a systemwherethe curriculum reflected an alien worldview and
superimposed forms of knowledge, fear of
failurein the examinationled to strict confinement of classroom interaction to the
prescribedtext. The ability to consign vast
amounts of written text to memory, which
was a prized featureof ancient Brahminical
pedagogy,provedenormouslyuseful, indeed
essential,underthe new systemof education,
and therefore gained a gresh legitimacy.
The examination-textbook
linkagebecame
strongeras the systemof educationexpanded
and its competitiveness increased. The
linkage defeated all attempts to reform the
curriculum and methods of teaching.7
Commissionafter commission since the late
nineteenthcenturybemoaned the dominant
role that examinations had begun to play.
Similarly, the obsolete nature of the curriculumwas criticisedand exhortationswere
made to change it. In a book published in
early twentieth century,Alston (1910;p 63)
wrote: "colleges have become, to a large
extent, rival cramming institutions whose
mutual jealousy defeats nearly every proposed reformin tie curricula".Referringto
the absurdity of teaching politics, history,
and economics from single texts, he says:
"books and not subjects are prescribed".
This irritation over the narrownessof the
curriculumand the impossibility of reform
was to prove a self-perpetuatingrefrainof
educational commentary in India.

instrument of alienation. As a foreign

language,English posed a dual challengeto
the Indian student. He was first expectedto
master its grammarand vocabularyalmost
entirelywith the help of textbooks since live
contact with an English speaker was rare;
and then, he was expectedto use this barely
masteredmedium to study the textbooks of
different subjects. The outcome of this
challenging process was recordedby Annie
Besant in this manner:
Sir CharlesWood'scurious experimentof
classesin a foreign
educatingthe professional
tongue-as though Eton and Harrowboys
weretaughtexclusivelyin German-not only
tended to de-nationalisethem... it also
offeredto themknowledgewhichtheycould
not assimilate,becausethey werestruggling
to followthelanguagewhiletheyshouldhave
beengraspingthe facts.Theironly resource
was to utilise their extraordinarypowerof
memorisingby learningtextbooksbyheart
and reproducingthem in the examinationroom. (Besant, 1939;pp 139-140)
Structures of pedagogical transaction,
once estab'ished, do not give in to change
easily.Colonial pedagogyoutlastedcolonial
rule; and in independent India curriculum
continues to be textKook-bound. While
the system of educatiorq has expanded
enormously since independence,it has not
been able to shed colonial policies of
examinationand prescriptionof textbooks.
In certaininstitutionsinnovativemethodsof
evaluation have been worked out, and in
some subjectsthe qualityof questionsgiven
for tests has improved,but by and large the
centralisedand impersonalcharacterof the
examination system has remained intact.
Along with examination reform, improvement in the quality of textbooks has been
a major concern among policy-makers.
When an improvedtextbook does get produced, however, it is used within the old
patterns of teacher-pupil interaction and
within the overwhelming demands of the
examination system.
LOCAL

vs NATIONAL

CONCERNS

The tension betweenlocal versusnational

concerns has been a key feature of curriculumreformssinceindependence.Reforms
initiatedby the governmenthavemostly emphasised the generalisedas opposed to the
localised kinds of knowledge and symbols.
This description would succinctly apply to
the natureof curriculumreformsundertaken
by the National Council of Educational
INSTRUMENT OF ALIENATION
Researchand Trainingduringthese 25 years
Anothercontributionto the popularityof of its life. Earlier, the situation was
textbook-centredpedagogy came from the somewhat ambivalent. Already during the
introduction of English as the medium of fifties, curriculumpolicy was characterised
instruction and examination. It opened the by a conflict between the pull towardslocal
way for the introductionof textbookswritten relevanceunder Gandhian basic education
by English authors, even in subjects such as and the opposite demand for transcending
the history and geography of India. Sub- the local milieu. The conflict deepened as
sidiaries of English publishing firms found nation-building became increasingly proa lucrative base in India by disseminating blematic under new political developments.
such books.8 Language, thus, became an The conflict was resolvedby droppinglocal

July 26, 1986

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

relevance as a necessary feature of the
curriculum-except as a token. One indication of this was the total absence of the term
'basic education' from the Education Commission of the mid-sixties.
The trend towards centralised, as opposed to localised, development of curriculum
favours the continued use of prescribed textbooks as the dominant tool of pedagogy and
symbol of the prescribing authority. This has
led to a new contradiction. Schools are now
expected to assist in the development of the
child's total personality, and not just impart
the basic skills as schools did in the past.
The new task demands the use of childcentred methods of teaching and decreased
reliance on the prescribed textbook. It also
demands greater autonomy for teachers.
And this is where the new expectation from
schools contradicts the pull towards further
bureaucratisation and centralised management. Autonomy for teachers would imply
greater professional self-reliance, demand for
higher status, and local control. The fear of
such demands continues to force the education system in India to reject the option of
truly professionalising its teachers.
But India has always had considerable
sources of energy for reform outside state
agencies. The experiments carried out by
Rabindranath Tagore and Gijubhai in preindependence days, the work of numerous
voluntary institutions inspired by Gandhian
basic education, the Krishnamurti schools,
and the village school started by David
Horsburgh are examples of innovative
actions all of which are opposed to the symbolic and practical role of the prescribed
textbook. A unique, living movement of this
kind is 'Hoshangabad Science', started by a
voluntary group of young scientists in
Madhya Pradesh 15 years ago. It utilised the
opportunity that science necessarily offers
for demanding 'inquiry' rather than information-gathering as the main aim of school
education. Its achievement in terms of the
development of professional autonomy
among teachers is quite startling. Emphasis
on science-by-inquiry and teachers' participation in curriculum change have undermined the symbolic role of the prescribed
textbook in at least one little corner of
central India.
For this to happen on a large scale would
mean the transformation of educational
culture. It would require a change in the perception of school knowledge and pedagogy.
Change in the material condition of schools
would certainly help, and so would improvement in the training and economic status of
teachers. If brighter youth were attracted to
school teaching, and if they had the freedom
and training to develop the curriculum and
new teaching materials, the hackneyed
norms of textbook pedagogy would break.
Nearly half a century ago, Mahatma Gandhi
had envisaged such an event:
If textbooks are treated as a vehicle for
education, the living word^ofthe teacher has

very little value. A teacher who teaches from

textbooks does not impart originality to his
pupils. He himself becomes a slave of textbooks and has no opportunity or occasion
to be original. It therefore seems that the less
textbooks there are the better it is for the
teacher and his pupils. (Gandhi, 1939)

Notes
Rhis is the author's Hiratsuka Memorial
Presentation at the Japan Comparative Education Society's Annual Conference at Tokyo,
June 30-July 2, 1986.]
1 A significant example of a study based on
this assumption is S Heyneman et al's "Textbooks and Achievement: What We Know"
(Washington: World Bank, 1978). It is a
significant study in the sense that -it
legitimises a purely technical, global view of
textbooks which underlies aid-based programmes of textbook improvement in Third
World countries, such as the Philippine Textbook Project financially assisted by the
World Bank. Also see Prospects (13: 3, 1983)
which carries severalarticles on textbooks in
developing countries.
2 Both kinds of systemsoperate in India. While
the majority of schools come under the purview of provincial governments, Central
Schools are run by the Centre. Another
scheme which the Central government has
recently decided to start is that of Navodaya
Vidyalayasunder which a 'model' school will
be opened in each district.
3 Considerableresearchis now availableon the
impact of colonisation on education and
identity.Examples of this researchare Martin
Carnoy's"Educationas CulturalImperialism"
(New York:David McKay, 1974); P Altbach
and G Kelly's (eds) "Education and Colonialism" (New York:Longmans, 1978);and
Judith E Walsh's "Growing Up in British
India" (New York:Holmes and Meier, 1983).
4 A moving description of the impact of state
control of education on teachers has been
provided by Arthur Mayhew, who was Director of Public Instruction in the Central Provinces during the early years of this century:
"The masterenmeshed in the network of our
Indian system works with code in hand. For
him, there is no 'unwritten law' or tradition.
There are 'returns' to .be submitted periodically, regulations to be followed, examinations in which a percentage of passes is to
be obtained, and an inspector, more regular

in his visitation than famine or the plague,

who, in the course of a few minutes, must
be convinced that no rule has been broken
and that something practical has been done
It is hard to imagine a Thring, Arnold, or
Sanderson thrown up by such a system. It
will not produce a Sankara, Kabir,or Tagore
in India"(Mayhew, 1926; p 72).
This example, fairly typical of colonial
history writing, is from Henry Morris's "The
History of India" (quoted, along with many
other examples, in Welsh, op cit).
Many autobiographies, novels, and short
stories offer examples of the common belief
that if one could memorise the textbook, one
,would pass nicely in the examination. For a
touching story based on this belief and its
accompanying anxiety in a young boy, see
Chandra Bali Pathak's 'Pareeksha' (The
Test), published in the children's monthly
Balsakha in its October issue of 1925.
Not an uncommon experience in Third
Worldcountries. For an account of such problems encountered in attempts to reform the
curriculum in Sri Lanka and Malaysia, see
Keith Lewin's paper 'Selection and Curriculum Reforms' in "Educational versus
Qualifications?" (ed J Oxenham; London:
Allen and Unwin, 1984).
Other colonial territories had similar
experience. For an account of colonial
publishing in Africa, see S I A Kotei's "The
Book Today in Africa" (Paris: Unesco, 1981).

References
Acharya, Poromesh: "Indigenous Vernacular
Education in Pre-BritishEra; Traditionsand
Problems", Economic and Political Weekly
(13: 48. December 2, 1978) pp 1981-88.
Alston, Leonard: "Education and Citizenship
in India"' Bombay: Longmans, 1910.
Besant, Annie: "India:Bond or Free?"'Madras:
The Theosophical Publishing House, 1939.
Gandhi, M K: "Text Books", Harijan
(September 9, 1939).
Kerr, J: "Review of Public Instruction in the
Bengal Presidency", Calcutta: -J Thomas,
Baptist Mission Press, 1852.
Mayhew, Arthur: "The Education of India",
London: Faber and Gwyer, 1926.
Sen, J M: "History of Elementary Education
in India", Calcutta: The Book Company,
1933.
Shukla, S: 'Education, Economy and Social
Structure in British India', Varanasi National Journal of Education, 1 (1 and 2:
1978); 112-125; 7-.-80.

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