NEW DELHI: Introduction to Vedas, Puranas, Sanskrit, ancient science, engineering, astronomy, town planning, and architecture will now be part of a new textbook for engineering and science students taking a mandatory non-credit course on Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).
The textbook, slated for release on Monday by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, is part of the center’s plan to roll out the new higher education curriculum that stresses the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) as per the National Education Policy (NEP) recommendations.
The new textbook follows the introduction of a mandatory non-credit course on IKS announced by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in 2018.
The course was launched, but it was felt that there were no “authentic and well-researched” textbooks available on IKS.
The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore developed the curriculum and prepared the textbook in association with SVYASA Yoga Institute, Bengaluru, and Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth, Ernakulam.
A panel of experts vetted the textbook, ‘Introduction to Indian Knowledge System concepts and applications’ written by B Mahadevan, professor at IIM Bangalore and founding vice-chancellor of Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth (University for Sanskrit and Indic Traditions).
The 417-page English textbook will cost Rs.795. There are plans to get it translated into Hindi soon.
The book aims to fill the gap in offering a required course on IKS, said the author. “The proposed textbook seeks to introduce the epistemology and ontology of IKS to the engineering and science students in a way they can relate, appreciate and explore further.”
Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE, said in the foreword: “The formal Indian education system inherited from British policymakers famously known as Macaulian system has kept the ancient Indian knowledge heritage out of the reach of the budding young students, citing reasons of lack of rigor and scientific value.”
“Our (Indian) is the only continuing, surviving ancient civilization with a huge repository of knowledge created by the forefathers, which can provide great value for any society.”From a layman’s perspective, imparting subjective knowledge and triggering mental development are the two main objectives of education. But from a scholar’s point of view, education enables and empowers people and it provides them with diverse knowledge, expertise and skills. Education equips people with basic values and ethics to make them sharp enough to deal with the real world. Therefore, the objectives of education in today’s world are to transfer social heritage, physical, mental, social, moral, cultural, vocational and character formation, entrepreneurship development, citizenship training and so on.
As universities and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) move towards academic reforms, an ecosystem that is both flexible and innovative is being created at present. Former Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal at the inauguration of the 16th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2021 in February 2021 highlighted the significant emerging trends in the higher education sector and underlined global best practices.
While releasing the FICCI EY Report titled "Higher Education in India: 2040", he said, “India is poised to become the research-and-development capital of the world not because of the cost advantage, but due to the rich and intelligent human capital that the country is bestowed with. Built on the foundational pillars of access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability, the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and a global knowledge superpower."
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