More than 1,000 university teachers across the country are being equipped with a working understanding of Indian traditions, culture and way of life, to enable them to teach relevant courses on Indian knowledge systems at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels from the next academic session.
The training is being imparted, keeping in mind the University Grants Commission’s plans to make compulsory two credit courses giving an overview of Indian culture and traditions in the first years of both the UG and PG programmes in varsities across the country, sources in the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) division of the Ministry of Education told The Hindu. In fact, UGC intends to train 15 lakh teachers in IKS over the next two years.
Comprehensive programme
The main areas being covered are parampara (tradition), drishti (perspective), and loukik prayojan (modern relevance) of ancient Indian knowledge systems. The six-day training has been divided into four parts.
The first part deals with an overview of the subject, including an introduction to pre-14th century Vedic texts, followed by the philosophical foundations of IKS like the Darshana Shastra (Vedic Philosophy). Vocabulary lessons, containing words which cannot be translated, such as karma and dharma, will be covered in the third part. In the fourth and possibly most important part, teachers are being trained in the methods of teaching IKS, such as Tantra Yukti, which is a research methodology and innovative pedagogy.
The UGC decision is in line with the National Education Policy, 2020, which directed that knowledge from ancient India and its contributions to modern India must be part of the curriculum. It also suggested that an “engaging course” on IKS be offered to secondary school students as an elective. “Competitions may be held in schools for learning various topics and subjects through fun and indigenous games,” the policy says.
Six cities
The IKS cell has been established under the Education Ministry to promote interdisciplinary research on all aspects of IKS and preserve and disseminate the same for further research and societal applications. It began training faculty members from universities across the country in July, and expects to conclude by October-end.
The training programmes are being conducted in six cities — Nagpur, Chennai, Varanasi, Srinagar, Guwahati, and Delhi — each covering the surrounding States. Training sessions are already over in the first four cities, and will be conducted in Guwahati and Delhi later this month.
“We have registered 180 faculty to be trained at each centre,” said Anurag Deshpande, IKS coordinator for the training programme, adding that the faculty members hold assistant and associate professor positions.
“We have collaborated with the UGC, and the centres selected are from among the ‘Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching’, which is tasked with capacity building of faculty, keeping in mind the implementation of the NEP 2020,” he said.
Teaching IKS fundamentals
The faculty at each centre were divided into four batches of 45 members each, and can now conduct training courses in their respective institutions.
Amukta Maalyada — an Associate Professor at the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Gitam University, Vishakhapatnam, who attended the training in Madras University — said there were lectures on diverse topics including the Vedas, history, mathematics, mythology, ayurveda, and Indian philosophy.
“The subject experts who trained us made sure that they come down to the level of fundamentals and make it understandable,” Dr. Maalyada said.
‘Ancient wisdom for aspiring nation’
“The University Grants Commission aims to train 15 lakh teachers in the next two years. We will be achieving this goal with the launch of the Malaviya Mission later this month,” said UGC chairperson M. Jagadesh Kumar. “Through these training programmes, we are also dispelling the limitations of Indian knowledge systems. We are demonstrating in the training programme that IKS is about learning from the continuous knowledge traditions and the wisdom of India for building an aspiring India,” he added.
UGC sources said that the IKS cell has been tasked with creating more than 40 discipline-specific courses. The Commission also plans to onboard artistes and experts from various streams not formally connected to mainstream academia, to provide students with their experience and expertise.
