Why Modi Should Not Listen To HRD Babus And Give His Go Ahead To Ramdev’s Vedic School Board

Baba Ramdev has been mulling the idea of setting up a Vedic Education Board (VEB) for sometime now.

His experience of running Acharyakulam, a school started by him in 2013, must have made him aware of the importance of formulating the curriculum, preparing textbooks and conducting exams - things that can only be done by recognised school boards like Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) or state boards.

Acharyakulam was founded with an aim to impart Vedic-cum modern education but since it’s been affiliated with CBSE, it could only achieve so much. If Acharyakulam wants to do what it was meant to do, then it would need its own curriculum, textbooks and freedom to conduct exams its own way. This can be achieved by charting its own path, i.e. setting up a separate board.

Last year, Ramdev was confident that the Union government will set up a Vedic Education Board (VEB). Prime Minister Modi, who had inaugurated Acharyakulam in 2014 in his capacity as Gujarat Chief Minister, seems to be in favor of the idea. Acting on such a proposal from the Patanjali Yogpeeth-run Vedic Education Research Institute (VERI), the PMO held its first meeting last month.

However, The Indian Express reported yesterday (15 April) that the school education secretary, S C Khuntia, had expressed serious reservations about the government recognising a private school board, during the meeting last month.

It seems the first instinct of the babudom to any new proposal is to give the reasons against its feasibility. Below are some objections raised in the meeting which don’t stand scrutiny and the reasons why PM Modi should not allow the proposal to be scuttled by babudom.

#1 One of the objections raised, as mentioned in the TIE report, is about government recognising a private school board. Why shouldn’t a private education board be allowed to enroll schools under itself? If we have private schools operating, why not private boards?

One would think that the fruits of liberalization over the last two and a half decades would make babus see the light. Apparently, not.

#2 Another objection is that recognising VEB will allow it to formulate its own curriculum and recommend its own textbooks which could limit the mobility of students to other boards. But, this reservation is unfounded as the idea of VEB is to allow affiliated schools to offer a blend of traditional Gurukul system and modern curriculum. VEB schools won’t be just other run-of-the-mill gurukuls. Ramdev said as much when he laid out his vision:

#3 Since the VEB’s curriculum will be quite different (and in some areas, totally new), the board would like to issue guidelines regarding the recruitment of teachers in its affiliated schools. This is very much understandable. But this has also been red-flagged by the babus as only the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) can regulate teacher education and recruitment in the country. This is totally absurd. Any board should totally be within its rights to issue such guidelines as the onus of maintaining the quality of teachers is on the board and only its reputation that is at stake. There is no reason why decentralisation shouldn’t be done in this regard.

#4 Millions of Hindus want their kids to learn Vedas, Upanishads, Shastras and rich Indic literary works that would help their children connect to their roots. Right now, the only option is outdated Gurukuls which mostly churn out unemployable youth with hardly any skills or modern outlook. Ramdev’s proposal will be to provide these people an option to provide an indigenised-cum modern education to their kids.

Though, Ramdev, who is giving FMCG executives run for their money, is a product of the same Gurukul system, his success is an exception, a ‘black swan moment’ if you will, and not the rule.

#5 Onslaught of communal legislation like the Right to Education (RTE) has forced close thousands of low budget Hindu-run schools. Setting up of VEB will be a healing touch for the community as far as education is concerned. Subsidising Dalits, backward class students in VEB affiliated schools will then be a worthy tradeoff.

Nobody is asking for religion-specific scholarships or discriminatory communal legislation like the RTE but just an education board that will pave the way for Hindu schools to come under one umbrella. One wonders why anyone should have a problem with that.

Then there is a reluctance on the part of this Government to take on the Marxists hold over education sector in India. It’s been two years and there have been no signs of even an attempt to correct the Marxist-bias in history textbooks.

A VEB has the potential do more than what Modi can possibly hope to achieve no matter how much political capital he spends. In one blow, VEB will break the overwhelming dominance of Secular-Left brigade in education. Another option is to tinker a little here and there and getting constantly bogged down in accusations of Saffronisation/Sanskritisation.

VEB is an idea whose time has come. Modi should play smart and give his go-ahead to Ramdev’s proposal instead of allowing Babudom to scuttle it.