Eight new chapters on Goa’s modern history ready

PANAJI: The committee appointed by the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has already completed its work of preparing eight new chapters in the subject of contemporary Goan history for the students of Class IX. The board is now set to vet these chapters further, and is preparing to get it approved by the state board’s various bodies so that it can be included in the new textbooks to be printed for the academic year 2019-20.
“The content is ready.Now we need to see if it needs to be improved, and then it has to be approved by the different Goa Board committees,” said board chairman Ramkrishna Samant. “It can be included in the Class IX history textbook only for the year 2019-20.” Unlike before, when the chapters on Goan history were given separately to students as a supplementary text to the textbook, these eight topics on Goan history will be part of the textbook itself.
The board had formed a panel consisting of prominent historians and academics comprising Varsha Kamat, Celsa Pinto, Seema Risbud, Prajal Sakhardande, Luisa Pereira and Maria Flor to frame the new content.
Given that the topics are of sentimental value to Goa, the board wants to vet the content well before introducing it, Samant said.
The Cuncolim revolt, the Pinto conspiracy, the Opinion Poll, and the history of the establishment of the Goa legislative assembly are some of the eight topics that will be included in Class IX history textbooks for the first time.
Inclusion of these crucial parts of Goa’s contemporary history in the school syllabus has been a long-standing demand of various groups in the state.
At present, only a small chapter exists on Goa’s history, freedom struggle and liberation. The new content will be more detailed, and will include the liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, history of Goa’s freedom struggle, Operation Vijay, and the history of Goa attaining statehood.