|
.
.
Colonial Legacy and the Challenge of Indianisation of Education
By
Irfan Engineer
(Director, Centre for Study of Society & Secularism,
Mumbai)
.
In a conference of ministers of education recently called by him, the Union Minister of
Human Resource Development Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi tried to push the RSS agenda of education by making Sanskrit and recitation of Saraswati Vandana compulsory in all schools. Ministers of education in the States ruled by opposition parties as well as of AP and Punjab, ruled by the parties supporting the present coalition at the Centre were offended by this, and staged
a walk-out in protest. They were also protesting against the fact that a person called
Mr. Chitalangia who has no official standing and is involved in running a chain of schools for
Vidya Bharati, an RSS outfit, was listed to address the august gathering. Mr. Joshi also wanted
to introduce, in the name of Indianizing education, house-keeping as a compulsory subject for
girl students. This would have no doubt strengthened the stereo-type that house keeping is
responsibility of women alone. The BJP government in UP similarly tried to make recitation of
Saraswati Vandana and Vande Mataram compulsory under the "Kalpa Yojna". The BJP is trying to introduce these changes in the school curriculum not as a haphazard political gimmick but a
well thought out strategy. Even before the BJP came into power, in over 6,000 Vidya Bharati
schools run by the RSS and the Sangh Parivar, the proponents of Hindutva, these sectarian
cultural traditions are invoked. Hindutva, lest we forget, is a political ideology which
essentially appeals to a minority of North Indian upper caste elite as it seeks to privilege
their cultural values and have their social hegemony. Even without compulsory recitation of Saraswati Vandana, our text-books, especially in the Northern and Western states, are quite communal. The National Steering Committee on Textbook Evaluation of NCERT - an institution of Central Government condemned the communal contents of the series Sanskriti Jnana in Vidya Bharati schools in strongest words.
To quote from the Extract, "... much of the material in the so called Sanskriti Jnana series
is designed to promote bigotry and religious fanaticism in the name of inculcating knowledge
of culture in the young generation." The Committee further comments, "The Vidya Bharati schools had been permitted to have their own examinations up to class VIII as well as to have their own teachers training programme... Much of the material in these books are designed to promote blatantly communal and chauvinist ideas and popularise RSS and its policies and
programmes." What is the basis of such strong remarks of the Committee? We cannot go into details but just give a few examples for lack of space though it is an eye opener to go through the things being taught in the Vidya Bharati run schools. The mythology of Ramayana is depicted as history rather than mythology! Not only Muslim rulers but even Prophet Mohammed is shown in extremely poor light who spread Islam 'by flowing rivers of blood'. A map of India under the caption 'Punyabhoomi
Bharat' printed as the back cover of many booklets mentions Indian Ocean as 'Hindu Mahasagar'. Arabian Sea is called Sindhu Sagar and Bay of Bengal as Gangasagar. Besides Pakistan and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and 'Brahmadesh' (Burma) are also supposed to be earlier parts of India. India is presented as original home of world civilisation. "The credit of lighting the lamp of culture in China goes to the ancient Indians and Kshatriyas were the
ancestors of ancient China.... The first people to settle in Iran were Indians (Aryans). In
the question and answer form, it is asked, "Why is Babri Masjid not a mosque?" and the answer
mentioned says, "Because Muslims have never till today offered Namaz there". Another answer
informs that three lakhs and fifty thousand devotees of Rama laid down their lives to liberate
Rama temple from 1528 to 1914!
Christians also have been targeted in these books. "It is because of the conspiratorial policies
of the followers of this [Christian] religion that India was partitioned". Thus attributing a
political act of colonial power to the religion which majority of the citizens of that country
follow. The book further states, "Even today Christian missionaries are engaged in fostering
anti-national tendencies in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal, Bihar, Kerala, and other regions
of our country because of which there is grave danger to the integrity of present day India."
Though the textbooks in other schools are not so blatantly partisan, they are communal
nevertheless to attract condemnation of the NCERT Committee.
By unsuccessfully introducing kalpa yojna in UP and Mr. Joshi's efforts to call an Education
Ministers' Conference and push its partisan agenda, the BJP tried to convert all the government
run schools on the lines Vidya Bharati schools. The RSS and Sangh Parivar are however not
likely to concede defeat so easily. What they could not achieve using BJP's influence on the
government, and impose their ideological hegemony on the entire society, they will achieve by
quietly spreading and expanding the network of their civil society organisations, including the
Vidya Bharati. Now they are in a much stronger position and can use the massive government
grants to add to their own resources and appoint their ideologically trained cadres on various
official committees and even as bureaucrats. All this will be done in the name of 'nationalising'
or their preferred term for Indian 'cultural' nationalism - 'Hinduising' the contents of
education.
The ideological orientation of RSS and Sangh Parivar has never recognised the plural traditions
of the people of our country. RSS has always considered traditions of a minority of North
Indian upper caste traditions alone as national or 'Hindu'. BJP has always stood for 'one
country, one culture, one flag' slogan. Appreciating the plural nature of our culture is also
simultaneously recognising contribution to our traditions by various sections of our society,
including the religious minorities. Acknowledge contribution to our traditions by various
regions and linguistic groups; different castes, including the Dalits and the OBCs; the
non-Brahmin religious, cultural and reform movements. It will mean accepting the syncretic
traditions like the Sufi and the Bhakti movements, which were mainly popular amongst the vast
majority of 'lower castes' but not appreciated by the upper castes and the ashrafs (Muslims
enjoying higher social status). It calls upon one not only to have respect for all traditions
and cultures but to recognise their contribution in our society and to be democratic as all
cultural traditions have to be given equal space and opportunities for development. The Sufism
and Bhakti traditions propagated humanity and love towards not only all human beings but all
creations of god. It posed serious challenge to the caste hierarchy. That is why Sufi and
Bhakti saints are very popular even today and people from all faiths throng their
(place where the Sufis are buried) and samadhis. The BJP and RSS want the educational
institutions to be used as an instrument to root out our plural cultural traditions and promote
the hegemony of the North Indian upper caste culture in the name of Indianizing education.
Moreover education institutions should be centres of knowledge and learning rather than as an
instrument to promote a particular culture as superior. Educational institutions cannot impose
its judgement about culture, ideology, philosophy etc. It has to place various
ideologies, philosophies and theories, whatever may be its country of origin, in proper context
and leave students to judge for themselves.
Next
Page....
.
|
