New Delhi, July 21: After history textbooks, Arjun Singh’s ministry has turned its attention to reviewing the school curriculum.

In what could turn out to be another Congress vs BJP tussle, the human resource development ministry has asked NCERT to draw up a new school curriculum to put in place by 2006. The curriculum will cover not only history but all other subjects.

B.S. Baswan, the education secretary, today sent a letter to NCERT’s acting director H.P. Dixit — who replaced Murli Manohar Joshi’s protege J.S. Rajput — asking him to initiate a curriculum review.

The 1986 National Policy on Education requires the school curriculum to be reviewed every five years.

Former HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi had laid down a new curriculum in 2000. But the syllabus triggered a nasty spat between Joshi and a large section of academicians as well as political adversaries.

His successor, Singh, has said he does not want NCERT to repeat the “mistakes” of 2000. Singh has made it clear that the institution must not deviate from the principles laid down in the Constitution.

One of the main allegations against Joshi was that he ignored India’s multi-cultural ethos and tried to project a “xenophobic and inward-looking India”.

The ministry’s letter quotes the Preamble: “The national curriculum for school education should always be in harmony with the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution.”

Baswan adds: “It could be worthwhile to keep reminding everyone associated with the curriculum review of the noble ideas of the Constitution preamble.”

Academicians have alleged that the NCERT curriculum under Joshi was flawed in its efforts to “Indianise” every aspect of history and culture and Baswan’s letter also mentions the “serious academic criticism” that the textbooks have drawn in the last few years.

“You are already handling the controversy over history textbooks” the letter says, terming Joshi’s finalisation of the curriculum as “short circuiting” with “inadequacies of procedures”. “You may like to address the question of how the books emanating from a new curriculum framework can be insulated from such distortions,” Baswan’s letter adds.

Joshi himself had faced a volley of criticism for not re-instituting the Centre Advisory Board of Education before making the curriculum official.

The board’s approval of the curriculum is usually mandatory.

Singh has re-convened the 102-member body. It will meet next month to review policy decisions on education and recommend measures.

Dixit will soon be replaced by a full-fledged NCERT director. A search committee has already submitted a panel of names to the ministry.