Abstract
Are schoolchildren able to follow what civics textbooks try to teach? This field study in Madhya Pradesh examined what they understood of three basic themes in civics—the formation of an elected government, its functions and its major institutions. Contrasting images gained from the social world with the images presented in textbooks, the study indicates serious problems with the conventional way of teaching civics and our expectations of what children learn. A major part of the problem lies in the way we conceptualise civics education itself. Selecting a constitutional framework and packing it with lists of rules and regulations makes in incomprehensible. Besides, its sterile, non-controversial nature makes it so remote from children's lives that they are unable to relate to what is being taught.
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