Rights group PAFRE and the People's Alliance for the Fundamental Right to Education are challenging the content of a new NCERT Kannada textbook [1].
The dispute centers on whether national curriculum standards are being used to impose a specific ideological narrative on students in Karnataka. Because textbooks shape the foundational understanding of history and culture for millions of children, these allegations of "saffronisation" signal a deepening conflict over educational neutrality in India.
The collective, consisting of educationists and activists, objects to both the title and the curriculum of the Class 6 [1] third-language textbook. The group said that the material promotes cultural hegemony and a saffron-biased narrative [1, 2]. They said that the current title misrepresents the language and the cultural identity it is intended to teach [1, 2].
Activists in Bengaluru have called for immediate revisions to the title and the internal content to protect the educational neutrality of the classroom [1, 2]. This movement emerged in March 2026, as reports of the group's objections surfaced in early March [1, 3].
While this specific dispute focuses on the Kannada language text, it exists alongside other curriculum controversies. Separate reports indicate the government ordered the recall of a Class 8 social-science textbook due to content regarding judicial corruption [4]. In a related legal matter, the Supreme Court issued a statement on Feb. 26, 2026, regarding a conspiracy to portray the judiciary as corrupt [5].
The Supreme Court is expected to hear a case related to these academic standings in two weeks [3]. The rights group continues to maintain that the Class 6 textbook requires significant changes to remove ideological impositions [1, 2].
“Rights group PAFRE and the People's Alliance for the Fundamental Right to Education are challenging the content of a new NCERT Kannada textbook.”
This conflict reflects a broader national struggle in India over the control of educational narratives. By targeting a regional language textbook, activists are highlighting the tension between centralized curriculum mandates from the NCERT and the preservation of regional cultural identities. The involvement of the Supreme Court suggests that these pedagogical disputes have moved beyond academic debate and into the realm of constitutional law regarding the right to unbiased education.
