RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra, whose suggestions for reforms in education have been termed as "saffronisation" attempt, today claimed that the books and syllabus taught in the country's schools and colleges change as and when the government changes and called for making education politics-free.
"In our country, when the government changes, we see all books are being changed, syllabus also changes which creates an atmosphere of tension.
"When Murli Manohar Joshi used to be the education minister, all books were changed. When the next government came, all books were changed again," Batra said addressing a seminar on "New Education Policy" at Delhi University.
Founder of the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, Batra, who has been an advocate of moral science and cultural education in schools, said, "Education should be autonomous as Election Commission or Supreme Court. There should be no politics in education but only education in politics".
He also called for institution of an Indian Education Service (IES) to ensure that only those people work in the sector who have the expertise to do so.
"There should be an Indian Education Service. Those who have romance for the field of education should come first and sit for the examination. Once they qualify they should be trained in nuances of primary and higher education education.
"The field and policy making should not be in hands of bureaucrats but educationists. One bureaucrat is finance secretary today, he will take over commerce tomorrow and then education. Such an important sector can't be left to someone who is jack of all trades but master of none," he said.
Batra, who is on a panel formed by the Haryana government to bring in qualitative changes in the education system, also said that the entire education system needs a rehaul and suggested that social service be made obligatory in schools and colleges.
"The education system needs a rehaul in the country, the methodology needs to be changed. Also education needs to be made inclusive. It is important to amend the education system in such a way that the universities and schools can be of benefit to the specific area they are located in," he said.
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Academicians from various universities and colleges presented their suggestions on reforms in higher education at the seminar organised by the RSS-backed Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas and DU's department of Sanskrit. The seminar's final report will be sent to HRD minister.
"The status of education in Bharat is highly fragmented. It is limited to providing degrees to students and has also lost its research essence. Education has no outreach to the poor. It has also failed to spread our cultural heritage in the country and across the globe. There is an immediate need for educational reform," Batra said in a three-page letter that details suggestions to improve the education scenario.
The suggestions include tweaking of teachers' training curriculum to introduce concepts such as patriotism, health conservation, social consciousness, spiritualism, moral science, value-based education, vedic maths; establishment of Bhartiya Education Services, and inclusion of subjects such as ancient and modern knowledge, science, physical education, yoga and character building.
Also present during the seminar was Atul Kothari, National Secretary, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, who said that culture and progress go together and hence our education system should include culture and heritage.
"We see that 40 per cent seats are vacant in a number of engineering and management colleges that have cropped in the country. Over 100 institutes have appealed to AICTE that they be allowed to close down. Even if they are private institutions, they still add to statistics of our country," Kothari said in his address.
"This is the situation because there is no planning. Hence there is a need for reforms and well deliberated upon reforms," he said.
Former Pro-VC of JNU, Kapil Kumar, moderated the seminar where ten themes for higher education were discussed, including governance reforms for quality, ranking of institutions and accreditations, improving the quality of regulation, pace setting roles of central institutions, improving state public universities, integrating skill development in higher education and promoting online courses.
Also discussed during the seminar were topics such as opportunities for technology enabled learning, addressing regional disparity, bridging gender and social gaps, linking higher education to society, developing best teachers, sustaining student support systems, promote cultural integration through language, meaningful partnership with private sector, financing and internationalising of higher education.
