CHENNAI: The State Government has entrusted school authorities with the responsibility of making 41 changes in the new Samacheer Kalvi textbooks (in the English and Tamil medium together), all of which have a reference to the DMK regime, its leader M Karunanidhi or developments in the State during his tenure. Fifteen mentions of the World Classical Tamil Conference have to be removed by tearing off the entire pages or blackening them with a permanent marker, apart from removing the mentions, poems and exercise-questions on the DMK leader. In a nine-page circular being distributed to all school heads, the government has given details of all the portions to be blackened, those to have a sticker on them and those to be torn off.The Semmozhi Tamil Vaazhthu, a lesson in all Tamil subject books, with the poem penned by the DMK chief for the Classical Tamil Conference, will have to be torn off for all classes. The deleted portion in the lesson also contains a brief biography of Karunanidhi, referring to him as the Chief Minister of the State for the fifth time. He is also hailed as an example of the Thirukkural couplet ‘Thondrir Pugazhodu Thondruga’ (if you are to be born, be famous. Else, it is better to not be born at all).Blackening of six mentions of the DMK Government in the Social Science Textbook for Class X, blackening of a mention and pictures of the new secretariat building in the Social Science textbooks for class Five, and pasting a sticker over a paragraph on the Chennai Sangamam in Social Science books for Class IV are some of the other changes to be made in the textbooks.A mention of M Karunanidhi in the list of theatre artistes, who helped in the growth of the Tamil theatre scene, in the Class VII Tamil book and a sentence hailing him as the leader who gave Tamil its status of a classical language, in Class X Tamil textbook, will also be marked out.An exercise in the social science textbook of class V, which asks students to discuss the State’s growth under Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, is also to be removed. A mention of the 108 Ambulance service in Class X Social Science textbook will also have to be removed.
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