In a meeting with the State Government, the RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has made an appeal for teaching Sanskrit mandatorily from Class 1.
Sources reveal that the Education Minister Jitu Vaghani, organizational general secretary of Gujarat BJP Ratnakar, along with senior officials of the department had met senior representatives of Sangh along with its fellows, to discuss the implementation of the New Education Policy. (NEP)
Imparting Sanskrit Education was the main agenda of nearly 20 representatives of the RSS affiliate organizations in the meeting with Vagahani who was assisted by nearly 25 senior government representatives. The Sangh was also of the view that besides Sanskrit, Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita and Ramayan should also be taught in schools, Vedic Math should be included in the curriculum and learning should be based on Upanishads and Vedas.
The presentation asked the government to keep at least six periods a week for Sanskrit teaching and spoke upon the lines that though schools should teach the best English, it should not be at the cost of Indian languages.
The NEP’s three language policy does not put any emphasis on any specific language to be taught compulsorily. It states that the language selection will be on the basis of choices made by States, regions and obviously the children themselves; provided two out of the three languages are indigenous to India.
RSS’s suggestion to teach Sanskrit is not restricted to schools, as the Sangh has suggested that Sanskrit must be taught as a second language in secondary and higher education, with Gujarati as the first and the government can decide what the third language will be. They also suggested that students who have not taken Sanskrit in Classes 11 and 12 should be forbidden from taking admission in BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery)
According to sources, another follow up meeting is scheduled in July between RSS and the State Government to discuss the further implementation of the proposed ideas.
