'Saffronisation' of education? Court snub to secularists is the right answer

  By MV Kamath
  Source: Free Press Journal,   October 3, 2002

Our "secularists" are nothing if not origi-nal and highly imaginative. They will cry "wolf" even if they see a
rabbit. Even if there is no living thing anywhere, in sight. Crying wolf has become a habit with them. The
slightest move on the part of HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi to set education in India in the right direction and our secularists will see red. Actually, not red but saffron.

Months ago the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) laid down a national curriculum framework for school education. It was a document available to anyone who cared to read it. It was not something secretly drawn up for equally secret implementation.

Actually it is a product of a long, par-ticipatory and democratic process of wide ranging deliberations and
discussion held at multilevel seminars and workshops throughout the country.

As the NCERT itself stated: "Nearly all the sectors and sections of the Indian society have their contributions
toward the development of this curriculum in a big way". All the state governments deputed their
representatives to the regional seminars as did Institutes of Education. Eminent educationists, artists, experts
and even representatives of industries also participated in these seminars and provided their inputs to the
discussions.

Additionally, various non-government organisations and research bodies working in the fields of education and social service were present at the seminars to share their rich experience. But our secularists were not
interested in facts. They had an axe to grind. And they sued the government, accusing it of attempting to
"saffronise" education.

The case went to the Supreme Court which, after due deliberation dismissed it as baseless. The Court (coram
Shah, Dharmadhikari, Sema JJ ) held that (a) Article 28 (1) of the Constitution does not prohibit the study of
religions in state-funded institutions and (b) non-consultations with the General Body of the Central Advisory
Board for Education (CARE) cannot be held as a ground for setting aside the national curriculum. The Court
only cautioned against any "personal prejudice, religious dogmas and superstitions creeping into the
curriculum".

In issuing the warning the Court was merely reflecting what the NCERT itself had emphasised. What did the
curriculum say? Among other things it says: * Education, in order to be relevant and meaningful, must relate to the socio-cultural context of the students. An indigenous Indian curriculum would celebrate the ideas of the
country's thinkers such as Sri Aurobindo, Vivekananda, Dayananda Saraswati, Mahatma Phule, Gandhi, Tagore,  Zakir Hussain, Krishnamurthi and Gijubhai Badheka. While our children know about Newton, they do not know about Arryabhatta; they do know about computer, but do not know about the advent of the concept of zero  (shunya) or the decimal system.

* Although religion is not the only a source of essential values, it certainly is a major source of value
generation. What is required today is not religious education but education about religions, their basics, the
values inherent therein. Students have to be given the awareness that the essence of every religion is
common, only the practices differ. The students should also be led to believe that differences of opinion in
certain areas are also to be respected.

* However, a word of caution is required here. Education about religions must be handled with care. All steps
must be taken in advance to ensure that no personal prejudice or narrow-minded perceptions are allowed to
distort the real purpose of this venture and no rituals, dogmas and superstitions are propagated in the name of
education about religions. All religions therefore have to be treated with equal respect.

* While evaluation needs to be as realistic as possible, it has to be done in a co-operative spirit. Participatory
and transparent evaluation can encourage learners to learn more and more. The fear of external examinations,
settled in the minds of children from a a very tender age needs to be removed. Teachers will have to shoulder
full responsibility of evaluating the progress of their children under their charge.

* Promoting national integration should be an aim to be actively pursued. The ten core components identified
in the National Policy on Education 1986 need to be reaffirmed. They are: History of India' Freedom Movement,
Constitutional obligations, India's common cultural heritage, egalitarianism, democracy and secularism, equality of sexes, protection of the environment, removal of social barriers, observation of the small family norm and   inculcation of scientific temper.

* In order to make education a meaningful experience, it has to related to the Indian context. India cannot
  flourish merely by importing or borrowing what is happening abroad.

*Curricula should help generate and promote among the learners (a) language abilities and communication
skills (b) mathematical abilities to develop a logical mind (c) scientific temper characterised by the spirit of
inquiry, problem-solving, (d) objectivity leading to elimination of obscurantism, superstition and fatalism (e)
understanding of the diversity in lands and people living in different parts of the country (f) appreciation of the  sacrifices and contributions made by the freedom fighters and social workers from rural, tribal and weaker
  sections from all regions of the Indian society and so on.

  The curriculum as suggested by the NCERT goes into great detail into what should be taught at various levels such as Primary, Upper Primary, Secondary and argues that the elective courses will have to cater to the
varied and heterogenous clien-tele. The list of courses, according to the NCERT may include modern Indian
languages and their literature, Sanskrit and its literature, English, other foreign languages, physics, chemistry,
biology, mathematics, computer science, geology .... indeed the whole works.

It says that practical activities to be chosen should have relevance to future life through acquisition of skills
and values. Probe it as assiduously as one will, one will never find anything to suggest "saffronisation". Then
why all the fuss from our secularists? At the secondary level, says the NCERT, evaluation should lay stress on testing the understanding and application of concepts rather than testing the rote memory of the concepts.

  Is that saffronisation?

Again, says the NCERT, "science and technology education should have something of value to offer to all
students" and that "particularly, rural and tribal-oriented technology will have to be made an important part of
the educational package". Further the NCERT adds:"Science must cut across traditional subject boundaries and open itself to issues such as gender, culture, language, poverty, impairment, future occupation and
environment and observance of small family norm.

Sure, the NCERT states that the " history of mathematics with special reference to India and the nature of
mathematical thinking should find an important place and the students may be encouraged to enhance their
computational skill by the use of Vedic Mathematics". At their our secularists can be heard to say: "There you
are! They are teaching Vedic mathematics! Isn't that saffronisation? ". To our secularists, the Vedas, the
Upanishads, Yoga, Ayurveda etc. are anathema. Most of them, in the first place would not have read the
Vedas, practised yoga or ever resorted to ayurvedic medicine, the latter, incidentally, getting more and more
popular in the west, even as Yoga is. But to our secularists Yoga is synonymous with Hinduism, Hindutva and, yes, fascism! It is to such a pathetic state that secularism has been reduced to.

Brought up to condemn everything that our ancient heritage stands for, taught to laugh at our own culture,
accustomed to despise rituals and rites as representative of superstition, accustomed to treat Sanskrit as "a
dead language" our secularists can only have words of criticism against the NCERT. The curriculum as
advocated by the NCERT could not be more science-oriented and anti-superstition. Text books based on the
curriculum have yet to be written or drawn out and it could well be that some zealous writer would go
overboard in stressing one aspect of education or another to invite criticism. And one can be assured that our
secularists are just waiting to take their swords out of their scabbards.

Judging from the curriculum as laid down by the NCERT, we should have an excellent series of text books that
are free of cant and controversy. One should remember that the text books are meant for children and
teenagers, not for postgraduate students. Should they be exposed to certain negative aspects of our ancient
civilization as some of our secularists aver?

These issues, one can be sure, will be subject to controversy and criticism but what should be remembered is
that in its basics, the NCERT curriculum is singularly free of bias. And that needs to be reiterated a hundred
times for all to hear. By their irrational behaviour secularists are often showing themselves to be anti-national.

Sad, but true. And worthy of condemnation.