NEP-2020 To Facilitate Inclusion Of Traditional Indian Values Including Nishkam Karma, Seva In School Curriculum: Govt

The government has said that under the National Education Policy 2020, traditional Indian values including nishkam karma and seva would be included in the school curriculum.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha regarding the steps taken by the government to inculcate Indian values in school children, Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said, "NCERT has developed curriculum, syllabi, textbooks and other curricular materials for elementary and secondary stages, integrating different aspects of value education and at the same time providing adequate space to study the contents of different subjects".

"NCERT textbooks have integrated concerns related to environment, peace oriented values, gender, SC/ST, minority in all its textual materials and supplementary reading materials," the minister said on Monday (9 August).

"The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 provides to include in the curriculum ethical reasoning, traditional Indian values and all basic human and Constitutional values (such as seva, ahimsa, swachchhata, satya, nishkam karma, shanti, sacrifice, tolerance, diversity, pluralism, righteous conduct, gender sensitivity, respect for elders, respect for all people and their inherent capabilities regardless of background, etc)," Pradhan said.

The NEP, 2020 also provides that all curriculum and pedagogy, from the foundational stage onwards, will be redesigned to be strongly rooted in the Indian and local context and ethos in terms of culture, traditions, heritage, customs, language, philosophy, geography, ancient and contemporary knowledge, societal and scientific needs, indigenous and traditional ways of learning etc – in order to ensure that education is maximally relatable, relevant, interesting, and effective for our students, he added.