“India” should be replaced with “Bharat” in the school textbooks for all classes, a high-level committee for social sciences, constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to revise the school curriculum, has recommended.

According to committee chairperson C I Isaac, the panel has suggested replacing the name “India” with “Bharat” in the textbooks, introducing “classical history”, instead of “ancient history”, in the curriculum and including the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) in the syllabus for all subjects.

NCERT Chairman Dinesh Saklani, however, said no decision has been taken yet on the panel’s recommendations.

The council later said on X: “NCERT states that since the development of new syllabus and textbooks is in the process and for that purpose various Curricular Area Groups of domain experts are being notified by the NCERT. So, it is too premature to comment.” “The committee has unanimously recommended that the name ‘Bharat’ should be used in the textbooks for students across classes. We have also recommended introducing classical history instead of ancient history in the textbooks,” Isaac said.

“Bharat is an age-old name. The name Bharat has been used in ancient texts, such as Vishnu Purana, which is 7,000 years old,” the Padma Shree awardee said.