'Rip Van Winkle' and 'Gulliver’s Travels' removed from Andhra Pradesh textbooks

In a move that has baffled many parents the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to remove a few children’s tales from the state school syllabus, the Deccan Chronicle reports. According to the government, these tales are all rooted in foreign culture and hence have no relevance locally. The short story Rip Van Winkle and the book Gulliver’s Travels were removed from the syllabus.

Along with these two stories, the Sheikh’s White Donkey is also out of textbooks because a white donkey doesn’t exist in the students’ local environment. While some parents and academicians are deeming this as ridiculous, the AP government has gone ahead with the changes.

AP State Council of Educational Research and Training ​is changing the syllabus for the next academic year. but these changes are being made for the current academic year itself by the AP government. Thus, the state school textbooks will no longer have these tales in them.