A standing committee at IIT – Gandhinagar will examine the role of Michel Danino as a guest professor after the Supreme Court directed governments and public institutions to dissociate from him, officials said.
The review comes in the wake of a controversy over a chapter on judicial corruption in a now-withdrawn NCERT textbook.
Danino, a Padma awardee, chaired the curricular area group that develops social science textbooks for NCERT. Two other experts involved in drafting the controversial chapter, Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar, have also faced criticism.
There was no response from Danino, Diwakar or Kumar to calls and messages seeking comments.
SUPREME COURT ORDERS DISASSOCIATION
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed the Centre and all state governments to disassociate from involved in drafting the contentious Class 8 social science chapter.
The court noted that the chapter contained “offending” content about corruption in the judiciary.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, “At the outset, we have no reason to doubt that Professor Michel Danion and his associates Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar either do not have reasonable informed knowledge with respect to Indian judiciary or they deliberately and knowingly misrepresented the facts in order to project a negative image of Indian judiciary before the students of Class 8.”
The bench added it sees no reason why these individuals should be associated with curriculum preparation or textbook finalisation for future students.
IIT-GANDHINAGAR REVIEW
A senior official said, “A standing committee will look into Danino’s appointment in view of the Supreme Court’s directions, and a decision will be taken after that.”
Danino has been associated with IIT – Gandhinagar since 2011 as a guest professor. The French-born Indian citizen was awarded the Padma Shri in 2017 for his contributions to literature and education.
He was also a member of the Centre’s committee for drafting a new curriculum under the National Education Policy, 2020.
Alok Prasanna Kumar is the co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, while Suparna Diwakar is a renowned educator and board member at the School of Inspired Leadership.
The controversy over the NCERT chapter sparked widespread debate on curriculum content and expert accountability.
(With PTI inputs)
