India: What is behind the move to introduce a course on Indian culture and Yoga in the university curriculum at JNU ?

The Hindu - 10 October 2015
Course on Indian culture is ‘saffronisation’: JNU students
Kritika Sharma Sebastian

The students union at Jawaharlal Nehru University is opposing the proposal to include a course on Indian culture in the university curriculum, calling it the central government’s attempt at “saffronisation of education”.

The university had recently sent a proposal to all its schools asking them to include a short-term course on Indian culture and Yoga in the curriculum.

The proposal, which has been sent to the head of departments of different schools will be presented in the Executive Council meeting on October 30 to take a final decision on the issue.

“The attempt to introduce a course on Indian culture and Yoga is a definite attempt at saffronisation of education. The administration is trying to get a back-door entry for a proposal which could not be accepted earlier as a full-fledged course. But the students cannot accept something like this. Everything that happens in JNU has to have the consent of the students union also but the union was not even informed about this,” former JNUSU president Ashutosh Kumar said.

“Why does the administration want a course of Indian culture, is it already not being taught at the school of languages, school of political science? We are now waiting for the proposal to come to the Executive Council meeting,” he added.

All India Students’ Association has also put up posters in the university campus through which they are seeking answers from the administration on what the objective is behind introducing the course and what will be the content.

The poster read: “JNU administration must clarify: At whose behest are these courses being introduced? What is the structure and content of these courses? Why has the JNU administration so far kept the students in dark while issuing press statements to placate their political masters in the government?”

“Given the ideological view of the present government, can there be any doubt about what they want to teach in the name of Indian culture? AISA resists the purveyors of majoritarian prejudices, hate and obscurantism, trying to dictate what we read what we learn and what we think,” it further adds.

Talking about the issue, JNUSU Vice-President Shehla Rashid Shora said: “On the one hand, the Modi government is trying to sell out education at WTO, offering level playing field to foreign traders in education and slashing subsidies for public-funded institutions, while on the other hand, it is trying to hoodwink students of the country in the name of Indian culture.”

The University had recently sent a proposal to all its schools asking them to include a short term course on Indian culture and Yoga in the curriculum