Karnataka’s NEP proposals ridiculous, say experts

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Education experts have criticised Karnataka’s inputs on ‘Knowledge of India’ that were sent to the Union Government to be included in the curriculum under the National Education Policy.

The committee is one of the 26 committees in the state formed to prepare position papers on different subjects. The papers will be considered in developing the National Curriculum Framework. The position paper on ‘Knowledge of India’ denounces Newton’s law of gravitation, which is considered the foundation of physics, as “fake news”.

One of the key suggestions in the paper is the inclusion of Sanskrit as a mandatory third language. Education experts termed the proposal ridiculous and said it would impact students’ learning abilities. “This is the era where students should be taught rational things about science, mathematics and technology. But the current government has taken the education system as a propaganda machine,” said renowned author G Ramakrishna.

Dr VP Niranjanaaraadhya says that he is not surprised by the recommendations. He also urges contemporary authors to respond to these proposals. “The NEP says that Sanskrit is the source for all major Indian languages and their phonetic, grammatical structure etc. It further says, Sanskrit is an important language; it possesses classical literature that is greater in volume than that of Latin and Greek put together, containing vast treasures of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, architecture, metallurgy, drama, poetry, etc.The position paper only repeats what is there in NEP and recommends that the Sanskrit Knowledge System should replace modern science. Our contemporary scholars of these disciplines should respond now,” he said.

The Chairman of the task force to implement the NEP in the state, Madan Gopal, defended the proposals. “Pythagoras theorem is debatable. It is not a scientifically established theory. Many of these formulas that we have been studying are debatable,” he said. He also pointed out that these mathematical formulas originated in Vedic texts in India, emphasising that nothing should be accepted blindly. “I think nothing should be accepted blindly, and there should always be room for discussion and debate,” he said.

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What’s in the position paper: Teach Artha?astra, promote Sanskrit

A nine-member committee headed by Dr V Ramanathan from Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi has made several recommendations for ‘the inculcation of Indian traditional knowledge within our scholastic framework’.
The recommendations were part of the Position Paper on Knowledge of India to be included in the curriculum framework and state syllabus under the National Education Policy (NEP). The committee also sought to promote Sanskrit in schools in order to help students understand the concepts of ‘Knowledge of India’.

 It dismisses Pythagoras Theorem as ‘fake news’
 It states that there is hardly any evidence for an apple actually falling on Newton’s head and that the story was a propaganda.
 On schools in ancient and medieval India, the paper says, “Dharampal has found out from British records itself that no discrimination based on caste was made, and also the number of schools in a small village in India easily outnumbered the total number of schools in all of the United Kingdom”.
 On the implementation of ‘Knowledge of India’ education, the paper says, “The topics of ‘Knowledge of India’ should be taught in a hybrid mode. For the 5+3+3+4 stages, the ‘Knowledge of India’ must be integrated profusely and holistically with the existing curriculum and framework and for the 4th stage, the ‘Knowledge of India’ must be introduced as a separate subject”.
Prominent female warriors who are celebrated in the state of Karnataka for their relentless fight against the Muslim rulers are Onake Obavva and queen Chennabairadevi who, unfortunately, do not find any place in the state textbooks.
 The history of the period 1860 to 1910 is not discussed at all in any form in the textbooks. It has been noticed that Bharata’s culture and its civilization’s main accomplishments are not highlighted. Bharatiya Dharma Parampara is neither introduced in a holistic manner nor projected with the right perspective whereas Christianity and Islam are presented in individual chapters.
 Events such as the genocide of the Malabar Hindus (Moplah riots), the genocide of Maharashtrian brahmins, the genocide and exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and many others have not made it to the textbooks as a part of the mainstream history or political science.
 In Economi