Heritage of the Vedas and Upanishads should find a place in Indian educational curriculum – Social Issue Essay

“Heritage of the Vedas and Upanishads should find a place in Indian educational curriculum.”

Scheme of the Essay

Exposition: The minister had to withdraw the recommendations regarding the content of education.

Rising Action: The Supreme Court said in its judgement that Hindutva is a way of life and not religion.

Climax:

(1) The heritage of Vedas and Upanishad should find a place in education because (a) we are ignorant of our culture (b) there is a conflict between the inner self and outer self of our lives (c) an ideal system (d) teaching housekeeping to girls is their biological and emotional need (e) secular education has failed to serve its purpose,

(2) It should not be done (a) presupposes that Indian culture is Hindu religion (b) will alienate from others

Ending: This would be a retrograde step.

After suggesting far-reaching changes in the content of education, the Minister for Human Resource Development withdrew the recommendations drafted by “a group of experts”. The BJP minister appears to have two objectives: the Hinduisation of education and furthering a parallel system. The much-touted slogan “Indianise and nationalise” is to legitimise the former and the abrogation of Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution is to achieve the latter.

The Indian culture, suggests the recommendations should form 10 to 25 per cent of every course right from the primary to the secondary level. Along with that, the study of Sanskrit as a compulsory subject in the school and the setting up of four Sanskrit universities are also suggested. Moreover girls, after the primary stage will be imparted training in home keeping.

According to the Supreme Court judgement, Hindutva is a way of life and not a religion. Therefore India’s invaluable heritage of the Vedas and Upanishads should find due place in the curriculum. Even the educated have no knowledge of their culture and ignorance of the culture means that our thinking, our principles and so our actions are at variance with our life. There is a conflict between our inner self and outer self-resulting in neurotic behaviour. The teaching of housekeeping to girls is definitely in keeping with their biological and emotional needs.

Educated women of today ignore their children, deprive men of jobs and create conditions in which peace and harmony in married life become a casualty. Man and woman become competitors whereas Go created them as complementary. If women remain confined to household activities many social problems will come to an end.

One can deny that the introduction of culture in our educational system is an ideal system for Hindus who have been denied this by the pseudo secularists. The Hindus are being denied the right to learn their culture and religion. The interests of the majority (Hindus) are sacrificed to appease minorities. Democracy should respect and give due recognition to the interests of the majority. We should have nationalist education in order to foster nationalism and patriotism. Secular education the name they give to the present system of education, has not been able to inculcate a secular spirit in us. The society is still divided on communal lines; communal riots still recur from time to time. Divided loyalties smother loyalty; only chaste systems survive. Our identity as a nation is obscured; we are turning towards foreign cultures because our own culture is buried under, so-called, secularism. Nationalisation of education will rebuild what has been demolished.

The introduction of the heritage of the Vedas and Upanishads in the educational curriculum presupposes that Indian Culture is synonymous with the Hindu religion. In fact our culture is plural and secular. Such a step would drive an edge among the different communities and this would lead to the acceleration of fissiparous forces and the tendency to disintegrate. The all-embracive nature of society will become all exclusive-What a fall! Our unity lies in diversity and not in segregating the units. So this invasion of Hindu culture will alienate us from others. If we study the working of schools where Hindutva dominates we will be convinced of the dangerous consequences. There are nearly 20,000 schools run by Sangh Parivar. Despite the prescribed syllabus, there is considerable leeway to introduce reading material produced by the Parivar. This material is doled out to the children in the name of moral education and General knowledge. These books seek to inculcate Hindu religious consciousness and pride of being a Hindu for which both geography and history are invoked. The familiar names are given a Hindu colour for example ‘Indian Ocean’ is renamed Hindu Maha Sagar and ‘Bay of Bengal’ Ganga Sagar. The ‘Sanskar Saurab’ series has on their cover a picture of the proposed Ramajanamabhoom temple with Ram sporting a bow and arrow. One of the lessons in book Four meant for students of class VI entitled “The Martyrs of 2^nd November” extols the sacrifice of those killed during karseva at Ayodhya. What will be the effect of this type of education on Indians is anybody’s guess. It will sow the seed of dissension; it will be an irreparable injury to our unity as a nation. It is not consolidation but liquidation. The recommendations regarding the education of the girls are retrogressive and reactionary. After primary education, they will be given special training in housekeeping. Such a step will make a clear distinction in the social roles of men and women. “Woman for the hearth” is an outdated view. It weakens the foundations of democracy which believes in the parity of sexes. Such a distinction will be incongruous with the present-day trends in advanced countries. It smacks of fundamentalism. Our nation comprises diverse religious ethnic and cultural groups and an attempt to nationalise should be integrative and not divisive. The secular system of education is the only system that despite its limitations and deficiencies has managed to keep the nation unified; suggested nationalisation of education will denationalise it.