Political Science and Images in Schooling: Personal Reflections on Textbook Making Process*

Abstract

The article narrates a personal journey of learning and unlearning the images in school textbooks, its uses potentials and challenges as experienced by the author. It reflects upon the experiences of the process of selection of these images within the context of political science as a discipline. These experiences have been formed over a decade while working for Eklavya in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and also at the NCERT in New Delhi. It locates changes in understanding the perspectives on political cartoons and posters as could be used in a school textbook. It also argues that there is a need to rethink ways in which cartoons are used in textbooks. Furthermore, it tells us something about the way political science as a discipline is taught in schools across India.