'Saffronisation' of education assailed

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 21. With the monsoon session of Parliament just round the corner, the chorus against the saffronisation of education is once again getting louder. Today, several political parties threw in their lot with a dozen Muslim organisations which came together to organise a national conference on the saffronisation of education.

While the former Prime Minister, Mr. V.P. Singh, saw in the saffronisation of education an effort to tailor the minds of the youth and drive a wedge between the majority community and the minorities of the country, the Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, accused the Government of abandoning the cherished ideals of tolerance, secularism and egalitarianism through a curriculum that seeks to condition the thought process of children.

Delivering the inaugural address, Mr. Singh said there were certain components in the National Curriculum Framework - brought out by the National Council of Educational Research and Training on Children's Day last year - which went against the secular fabric of the country. Going back in history, he sought to show how all authoritarian rulers captured the minds of their people before pushing through their narrow agenda.

In her message to the conference, Ms. Gandhi said textbooks, classrooms, research organisations and even cultural institutions such as museums were being used as instruments of ideological propaganda. Stating that the purpose of education is to expose young minds to rational thinking, a progressive outlook and a scientific temper, the Congress president called for combating saffronisation of education with vigour and conviction. Based on the in-puts from the two politicians and the opinions aired at the day-long conference by participants, a draft resolution - rejecting the National Curriculum Framework - was drawn up at the end of the day. The resolution appeals to all secular forces and organisations - political, social and educational - to form a representative national body with branches in all States to monitor and diagnose distortions in the educational system and campaign for prompt remedial measures. Rejecting the curriculum framework, participants described it as ``anti-democratic, anti- secular and anti- national'' and a road map for the ``Hinduisation of education''. Conceding that the curriculum needs to be changed with time to ensure that it is in pace with the times, participants demanded that the NDA Government consult Parliament, the States and the educational fraternity before changing the National Education Policy.

In the resolution, note was taken of the induction of men from the Sangh Parivar into policy-making bodies and research institutions to purge progressive and secular elements in them. Upset by the shrinking of academic space for languages in the new curriculum framework, the resolution advocates the three language formula.

Further, through the resolution, the participants have demanded the withdrawal of the courses in astrology and purohit studies, and a return to the established system of moral education instead of the proposed value education. Also, they have urged the Government not to use history to reopen past wounds to ``keep them bleeding'' and generate ``revanchist tendencies''.

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