Six and half decades since political Independence…

There are now signs of Independence for Indian Education System?

We are now slowly but steadily moving away from the Macaulay system of education introduced by British

We are now getting back to our roots…

We often complain about the faults in our education system and reforms that are required to make it effective and meet the goals of holistic education. They are relevant for the policy makers and institutions to consider and act upon.

In this article we take a quick peek at some of the recent initiatives, especially by CBSE and various state education boards that are in a positive direction taking us back to our roots… and the next step? in this direction.

• In an earlier post we shared about Yoga literacy happening in schools.
• CCE pattern of assessment and evaluation
• Life-skills education
• Co-scholastics including life-skills and value education, which are essential for holistic growth of an individual is now a part of academic grading

Yes, efforts are on and there is a long way to go to make sure that all schools are empowered to implement the above effectively. But, the good news is that the journey…

to get back to our roots… to revive the essence of Ancient Indian education system and gurukul pattern… has now begun

Is Sanskrit literacy the next step in this direction?

Sanskrit with its grammatical perfectness is also acknowledged as most suitable language a computer can understand. Lot of research is happening in the west in this direction. NASA has already started using it in its experiments. The day is not very far when computer programming is made only in sanskrit. In that scenario sanskrit literacy will become a mandatory requirement for programming professionals. Last time around India missed the boat when west marched past during industrial revolution.

Schools in Europe have realised this and many advantages Sanskrit learning has. They have made it compulsory in their schools. They also realise that chanting of vedic mantras help in stimulating various centres in the body and help in learning, memorising, concentration, diction, etc., They no more associate sanskrit and vedic mantras with religion. Sanskrit and vedas have now entered into their definition of secular and scientific education. Has it entered ours? Edison, Einstein apart from other philosophers, scientists, etc., across the world have long since acknowledged the universal applicability of Gita and Vedas.

Some reports and video links:

• A British school makes Sanskrit compulsory
• Why schools outside India teach Sanskrit?
• Sanskrit Thriving in British Schools
• Sanskrit Vedic Mantras in Buckingham Palace
• Sanskrit – A Day of teaching Sanskrit at St James School, London

With the nativity advantage, we are better equipped to make our upcoming generation sanskrit literate by making it mandatory in schools and thus catching up with the next big thing. Moving ahead of the pseudo-secular tag, our policy makers have Introduced an elective course on knowledge traditions and practices of India in CBSE. Carrying on with the spirit, there is also serious debate happening in this direction to better understand the relevance of Sanskrit in modern times. Hope this translates into reality and we see our upcoming generation converse in Sanskrit.

For all these steps and initiatives to be effective, there is a definite need for all stakeholders in the system – parents, teachers, school management and policy makers to act in cohesion. Teachers and parents play a key role in this process. They have to be taken into confidence, informed and trained so that they are better empowered in playing a constructive role in nurturing our children to face the challenges of 21st Century.

Related articles

• If the Japanese can learn Sanskrit, why can’t we? (dnaindia.com)
• New textbooks to make Sanskrit learning easy (thehindu.com)
• Sanskrit an Unambiguous Natural Language on the Planet- NASA (mobilepunditsblog.wordpress.com)
• Sanskrit Name Of Coconut Has A startling Meaning (coconuttyhealthy.wordpress.com)