New Delhi: An RSS-affiliated outfit has a suggestion for the draft National Education Policy (NEP) — to include Vedic maths as part of school curriculum.
It is one among many feedbacks that Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN), an RSS-affiliated organisation, has for the Ministry of Human Resources (HRD) and which will be discussed in its upcoming seminar called ‘Gyan Utsav 2076’ at the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi on 17 August.
The seminar will be attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, among others.
SSUN, founded by Dinanath Batra, has also demanded that schools include tenets of Indian traditional knowledge system and focus on the Vedas, philosophies of Swami Vivekananda, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Abdul Kalam and others.
“Right from Vedic times till now, the Indian knowledge system has to be introduced in schools. Inclusion of Vedic mathematics, for instance, is a suggestion that we have given on draft NEP so that young students will not rely on calculators as their mind will become very sharp. In competitive exams, calculators are not allowed,” said said Atul Kothari, secretary of SSUN.
1,50,000 suggestions on draft NEP
Some of the focus areas that will be deliberated upon in this seminar are learning in one’s mother tongue, importance of value education, the quality of education, conduct and behavior of students and personality development. Discussions will also centre on how these can be implemented in the Indian education systems.
This is the organisation’s last effort to ensure that suggestions given by it are included in the draft policy. The HRD ministry had made the draft NEP public after much consultation and sought suggestions on it from the public. Based on these comments and suggestions, the ministry will finalise the policy. Earlier, the HRD minister had said that the ministry has received more than 1,50,000 suggestions from the public and various other stakeholders.
A number of vice-chancellors and people working in the field of education will also take part in the seminar.
Also read: Muslims must get rid of victim mentality. Have RSS, VHP stopped them from giving UPSC exams?
Draft NEP under scrutiny
The SSUN has held 35 conferences across the country with 6,000 educationists till date, it said.
Kothari also said that only able administrators in the field of education can help achieve the “real objectives of the new education policy”.
“To fulfill these objectives, the Gyan Utsav 2076 is being organised. To raise basic and fundamental issues of the new education policy,” he further said.
The draft policy has been criticised for its suggestion to make Hindi compulsory, something which the ministry later clarified will not be made mandatory.
Also read: Hindi has grown from 20,000 to 1.5 lakh words in 20 years, and very quietly