There is nothing wrong with saffronisation of education, feels Vice President Venkiah Naidu
Saffronisation of education is a hot topic that is being debated across the country for quite some time now. Questions have been posed to the ruling entity, which swears by the saffron ideology, for bringing in strategies that challenge the very concept of inclusive education in the country.
And now, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu himself has defended the ‘saffronisation’ of education. His statement came at the inauguration of the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya in Haridwar during the weekend. The statement, significantly, came a while after the Gujarat government announced that it would make English a compulsory subject from Class I and also implement a bilingual medium of instruction and introduce the Bhagavad Gita in the curriculum of all state-run schools from Class VI.
English like spectacles, mother tongue eyesight, says Vice President
However, Naidu was of the opinion that English had only the role of spectacles, while the mother tongue is like eyesight. Calling to promote learning of the mother tongue, he showered praise on the Narendra Modi government for promoting mother tongues.
All that is fine. It is a good thing that Indians in various parts of the country learn their own mother tongues. But calling for pushing aside learning of English doesn’t suit a person who occupies such a high position in the India polity, whatsoever. Does it?
And then came the next clarion call. Stating that the aim of the New Education Policy is Indianisation of education, and that the country’s education system must be Indianised, the Vice President of India wanted all countrymen go back to their roots, know the greatness of India’s culture and heritage, and understand the great amount of treasure in the Vedas.
Taking India to the Vedas
Declaring that there is nothing wrong with saffronising education, he also said that the accommodating nature of education disappeared as foreign rulers looked down upon Indian literature, science, culture, and knowledge. He attributed the lack of education among many sections of the Indian society to the change in mode of education to learn to foreign languages. This has only given birth to a new class of elite people, he added.
Even the Vice President of India is okay with the saffronisation of education, and he even considers it matter of pride. Sidelining English education, which anyone with experience and wisdom would agree is essential in the new world, shouldn’t be encouraged. Going back to the Vedas is fine, but learning only the ancient texts would not take India anywhere in the global scheme of things. Let’s hope wisdom and sense would prevail.