An exercise book prescribed for Class 3 by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) represents Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir as “Azad Kashmir”, the name given to the held territory by Islamabad. The faux pas has evoked a strong reaction from sections of teaching and student communities, some political parties and others following which the map practice exercise book was withdrawn.
However, the CBSE has distanced itself from the controversy saying that the exercise book in question was brought out by a leading private publisher based in Delhi’s Karol Bagh area and not the NCERT which prescribes the textbooks for Class 1 to Class 8 students. “We’ve nothing to do with it. The CBSE prescribes only NCERT textbooks for Class 1 to 8 students. This book which is being talked about is of a private publisher,” the board chairman Vineet Joshi said.
The controversy surfaced a couple of days ago when it was found that the exercise book for schools run by Army Education Welfare Society showed PoK as “Azad Kashmir”. The society officials said that soon after the discrepancy was noticed it seized all the books from the students and immediately withdrew it from the school curriculum. The Army will write to the CBSE and HRD ministry about the faux pa, sources said.
Pakistan calls the areas occupied during the 1947 tribal raid and subsequent first Kashmir war excluding Gilgit-Baltistan region of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir as “Azad Jammu and Kashmir” literally free Jammu and Kashmir or “Azad Kashmir” (13,297 sq. km.) The Gilgit-Baltistan region (72,971 sq.km.) has been named by it as the country’s ‘Northern Areas’.