New Delhi: Technical colleges and universities have been asked to accept Class 10 and 12 qualification of school students from a newly recognised Vedic board as equivalent to any other regular school board and grant admission.
A circular in this regard was sent by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) — the country’s apex body on technical education — last week to all its affiliated institutions.
These students clearing Class 10 and Class 12 exams will be getting Veda Bhushan and Veda Vibhushan certificates, respectively.
So far, only a limited number of higher education institutions, including 17 universities teaching Sanskrit, accept the two certificates for admission. Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (New Delhi), Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (Tirupati), Shri Venkateswara Vedic University (Tirupati), Karnataka Sanskrit University (Bengaluru) are among universities.
More higher institutions are expected to accept the two certificates in future after the AICTE circular.
In August, the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) had granted equivalence (recognition of a qualification from another tertiary institution for admission to a higher degree) status to the Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Sanskrit Shiksha Board (MSRVSBB).
The AIU had been tasked with developing an Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that can be used to grant recognition to various unrecognised school boards. In the process, it also granted equivalence to the newly established MSRVSBB.
The MSRVSSB is being brought in by the Narendra Modi government as the first dedicated board for Vedic education that will be under Ujjain’s Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Ved Vidya Pratisthan (MSRVVP). The ‘pratishthan’ (institution) is already running Vedic schools under its aegis and after the approval of the board, all schools will come under it to be a part of the formal education system.
“AIU, which is the body designated by the Government of India for according equivalence to school Boards in India, has accorded equivalence for grade 10 and 12 board examination qualifications of Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Sanskrit Shiksha Board (MSRVSSB) that shall function as a regular school Board within India. You are, therefore, requested to consider Veda Bhushan and Veda Vibhushan certifications awarded to candidates by MSRVVP equivalent to 10th standard and 12th standard certificates respectively for the academic purposes,” read the AICTE circular.
As per the MSRVVP official website, the ‘pratishthan’ is “engaged in propagation of Vedic knowledge and culture and Vedic studies”.
As per the material available online on the official website of Ved Vidya Pratishthan, students will study Vedas and Hindu scriptures as a part of their syllabus. For example, Class 12 students will study ‘Brihadaranyaka Upanishad’, which is one of the principal Upanishads of Hinduism. They also have the study of Ayurveda in their syllabus.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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