THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In addition to the powers and responsibilities of governors, Class X students in state syllabus schools will be familiarised with contemporary issues such as ‘resort politics’ — a disparaging reference to when political parties squirrel away their legislators to vacation hideaways to stave off defections — and the Supreme Court verdict striking down electoral bonds.

These topics will figure in the second volume of the revised Class X social studies textbook, that was approved by the curriculum committee on Friday. General Education Minister V Sivankutty, who chaired the meeting, said the revised second volume of textbooks for classes II, IV, VI, VIII and X would reach students before the Onam vacation.

“The school textbooks are being revised after a decade and subjects such as social science that deal with political, economic and sociological concepts would require students to be familiarised with contemporary issues for better understanding,” State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) director Jayaprakash R said. The official said topics such as electoral bonds and ‘resort politics’ have been mentioned without references to specific political parties.

While electoral bonds have been mentioned to highlight the importance of transparency in democracy, the textbook mentions ‘resort politics’ as a threat to democracy while elaborating on defection by elected members.

“These two topics come under the chapter ‘Democracy: An Indian Experience.’ The idea is to encourage classroom discussions on contemporary issues and generate interest and awareness among students,” the official said.

Though the Emergency imposed in the country during the 1975-77 period had been mentioned in previous textbooks, it will be dealt with in more detail in the revised textbook under a separate subhead , titled ‘Emergency: A Crisis in Indian Democracy’.

The move assumes significance in the wake of the Emergency becoming a major talking point during its 50th anniversary this year.

‘Guv’s duties’ in social science textbook

Gubernatorial duties and responsibilities have been explained in the same chapter in part II of the Class 10 social science textbook. Interestingly, the Left government’s decision to incorporate the topic in the second volume of Class 10 textbooks comes amid tensions with the Raj Bhavan on various issues.

Plus-II textbook revision

Sivankutty said textbooks of the state higher secondary course will be revised after through discussion with all stakeholders. The curriculum committee has directed state-level workshops be conducted for finalising the textbooks.