Uttarakhand's move to include Hindu scriptures termed "saffronisation" of education

After Uttarakhand education minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that the State Government will include the study of religious texts like Bhagavad Gita, Veda-Puranas and Upanishads in the school syllabus of the State Board, many said that this was a step towards saffronisation of education in the state. An educationist from the State Education Department, who did not wish to be named, said, "This has never happened before. Religion shouldn't be thrust into education. This seems like a stealth saffronisation of education in the state." 

The minister, who was speaking at a function in an educational institution in Dehradun on Sunday, further added that Uttarakhand will implement the National Education Policy (NEP) in the upcoming academic session to become the first state in the country to do so. However, many opined that this is just another move of 'cultural integration'. Yogesh Kumar, a Dehradun-based analyst said, "We all are well acquainted with Hindu scriptures. Stories of these scriptures are part of the household. The move is just the formalisation, which is a welcome one." 

Days after the Gujarat State Government issued a circular to include the Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus of Classes Vi to XII, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, on Saturday, said that there is nothing wrong in 'saffronising education'. "They say we are all saffronising. What is wrong with saffron? I don't understand. We should really first learn our languages and then learn other languages. We are not against outside knowledge. Whatever knowledge is available from outside we must breathe and understand. First, breathe in your mother tongue. Then learn other languages," he said, in his address after he inaugurated the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya in Haridwar of Uttarakhand. 

Interestingly, the circular stating that the aim of the decision is to 'cultivate a sense of pride and connection to traditions' adds that Indian culture and epistemology should be included in the school curriculum to contribute to the holistic development of the students. Last year, the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur published a 2021 calendar with the theme of India's traditional knowledge systems, with each page focusing on a discipline from ancient India such as astronomy, law and the arts, with quotes from Western figures such as Voltaire, Einstein, Mark Twain and others. The move had irked many academicians.