An RSS-backed body has suggested inclusion of Ayurveda, Siddha and other indigenous medical systems in an “integrated syllabus” for medicine.
An RSS-backed body has suggested inclusion of Ayurveda, Siddha and other indigenous medical systems in an “integrated syllabus” for medicine. Favouring major changes in all fields of higher studies, the Hindu Education Board wants introduction of value education to become a “differentiator” between “Bharatiya” and other education systems in the country.
In a proposal to the HRD ministry, the board has also suggested incorporating Indic traditions for science graduates in the curriculum in which “Bharatiya” languages should replace English as the dominant language. These proposals were made barely weeks after the Hindutva body held a conference, which was attended by its HRD minister Smriti Irani and her ministerial colleagues and where RSS general secretary Krishna Gopal had pitched for an overhaul of the education system with assimilation of Hindu thoughts. The HRD ministry is holding nationwide consultations to formulate a new education policy and the board believes its recommendations could play a key role in shaping it.
On the science and technology curriculum, the board feels Indic knowledge and traditions can be helpful for students. Its proposals are full of references to ancient traditions and knowledge, which Hindutva groups allege were deliberately ignored by previous dispensations.
On “value education” in higher education, the board said students should be taught how giving respect to the elderly, knowledge, renunciation, teachers, women, environment and kinship, besides concepts of family and marriage, have helped people in the past. In its proposal to the HRD ministry, the board said, “Courses in our own textual and other intellectual traditions should be developed to highlight the importance of all four purusharthas, not just artha (wealth) and kaama (desire)”.
