The Teachers' Centre and History for Peace jointly conducted a series of four workshops in April and June 2026 on the theme of Sifting Fact from Fiction. History teachers teaching middle and senior school from more than ten Kolkata schools under different boards participated in these workshops.

The facilitator at the workshops, Sunita Biswas, took up the same theme as an earlier workshop which was part of the History for Peace Professional Development course held at Shiv Nadar School, Noida, in October 2025. However, she made substantial additions to take the theme much deeper by carrying out a close examination of the content of school history textbooks which often generalize and obfuscate and leave little room for different perspectives, leading to a narrow and biased understanding.

The thrust of the workshops was on Indian history though some content from world history was also included. The topics discussed ranged from the historicity of Chanakya, the alleged destruction of Nalanda by Bakhtiyar Khilji, the effects of the sack of Surat by Shivaji, an assessment of the nature of the jizya tax, the role of the Jagat Seth in the Battle of Plassey to Gandhi’s decision to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri Chaura incident. With reference to world history the French Revolution with its promise of equality and the politics behind the Montgomery protests in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States were some things that were explored. Some of these topics have been the subject of contentious public debate in recent times which made it feel important to take them up.

The participants examined sources as evidence and engaged in reflection, discussion and varied activities to critically question and sometimes upend long-held beliefs. One activity that the participants thought they could use effectively in the classroom involved the use of the SIT strategy which asks someone to study a piece of evidence and then classify the content according to what comes across as Surprising, Interesting and Troubling. A role play activity that put Shivaji on trial for the sack of Surat also saw the enthusiastic involvement of the participants as they weighed evidence through cross questioning and deduction. Another role play activity that saw spirited participation revolved around the negotiations by the involved parties on the eve of the Battle of Plassey. A counter factual exercise was assigned as a home activity on the outcome of the battle without the Jagat Seth and quite a few interesting submissions were handed in.

Assignment by Balika Pal

As feedback the participants felt that they would be able to carry many things from the workshops back to their classrooms though a general concern was expressed about resistance from the students to changing certain rigidly held beliefs.

This report has been written by Sunita Biswas, facilitator of the workshops and Senior Programme Officer at History for Peace.