Of godly interventions in educational institutions

Vandana Shukla

RE-imaging gods from time to time is a human need. And it's not the sole prerogative of the poets and artists. An institution like an IIT could interpret the mythical in a modern technological avatar. When few students of IIT Bombay  painted a mural of lord Hanuman — bespectacled, wearing watches — smartphone replacing the armband, holding a mighty pen instead of the mace, and the Meru parbat, replete with a windmill and a mechanical tail —it offered enough fodder for a few hooligans of Shiv Sena, to demand it be covered. Lack of education and good taste among the blinkered fundamentalists is not a revelation, turning a blind eye to right-wing high-handedness by the state administration in educational institutions of high repute  as a norm is a new. It diminishes the very edifice of education. The government claims, technology is the fulcrum of creating a new digital India, in reality it reinforces the religio-cultural traditions of patriarchy, caste superiority and right-wing bigots to discourage innovation and enquiry. When such an event takes place in one of the top-ranked institutions, it sends wrong signals down the line.  

The absence of organised protests against such acts gives a boost to the right-wing agenda, which has acquired a structured, state-approved status. In the first week of December, a workshop was announced at IIT Bombay on “Ancient Indian Knowledge Systems.” The IIT administration was unaware for no permission was sought. Posters about the workshop on the campus said, “For examining and carrying out experiments of the fundamental principles present in the Vedas, sages devised research methodology in the form of six Upangas or Darshans (Mimansa, Vaisheshika, Nyaya, Yoga, Sankhya and Vedanta)…”

Following opposition from students and faculty members, it had to be converted into a lecture series. No academic would object to researching classical Sanskrit texts or the Vedas; absence of scholarship on the subject is a grave worry. The right wing wants Sanskrit and other ancient texts to be taught not with political philology, enquiry and scholarship but with mindless reverence. Courses on Upangas or Darshans are taught in prestigious universities across globe. Rohan Murty, as a PhD student in Computer Science at Harvard University, was taking courses in ancient Indian literature and philosophy from the Sanskrit Department, when he developed a deep interest in Mimansa and Vedanta, which resulted in foundation of Murty Classical Library, under the aegis of Harvard University Press. He selected Sanskrit scholar Prof. Sheldon Pollock, as the editor for the project. It became a contentious point among the right-wing supporters, opposed to fresh insights, interpretations and research in the ancient texts. They placate and propagate ignorance-based faith.  

The embarrassment of last year's Indian Science Congress is not yet a forgotten chapter. This year, close to 5000 students were made to wait for hours in biting cold for VIPs to witness gayatri mantra chanting, during the recently concluded International Geeta Mahotsava, at Kurukshetra. The number of study hours wasted by the schools in futile exercise such as chanting, already functioning under severe constraint of human resource, fail to be of any concern to the authorities deciding India's future.  

The Rajasthan government did away with western writers and poets like John Keats, Thomas Hardy and William Blake, from their school syllabus under the excuse of lack of cultural familiarity for the students. But about eight textbooks removed short stories written by famous Urdu writers like Ismat Chughtai and Safdar Hashmi could not hold ground when the government stated “they were loaded with Urdu words...” and were “highlighting practices of a particular community.” 

It's important for the young to read authors like Chughtai, who stood for progressive values for most of her life, fought British courts for her convictions. Her work dealt with taboo themes and took readers into unexplored places. The years of student life are made special by new explorations into the diverse voices and realities. All this would be denied to the young minds, who will be forced to read purged textbooks. Their readings will be further limited by the content on "local cultural practices and beliefs". This runs counter to the idea of plurality and also fails to understand the culture of reading, and of exploring different worlds through words, ideas and books.   

In Haryana, the government included the teachings of the Bhagavadgita and the Vedas as well as the virtues of yoga in school textbooks on moral education. If Urdu words are found to be difficult, is Sanskrit simple to comprehend? While quotations from the Quran and Guru Granth Sahib have also been included in the books, the BJP government sought suggestions from RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra on the content of the books.

Communal biases apart, names of political opponents too are whitewashed. Proposal to scrap the names of leaders like Ranbir Hooda, Chhotu Ram, Devi Lal and Bansi Lal, followed by removal of the name of  Jawaharlal Nehru from a few textbooks in Rajasthan, is yet another worrying trend of blurring the political histories.

The insistence on negotiating history is not limited to the BJP-governed states. Political considerations of caste and vote bank took precedence over facts, in Tamil Nadu. Recently, the CBSE announced its decision to remove a section titled “Caste Conflict and Dress Change” from its social science curriculum for Class IX students, following an order by the Madras High Court that directed it to remove “objectionable content.” The removed section of the NCERT textbook, used by the CBSE and 15 state boards, involves a discussion of the Nadar community, whose men and women were forced to keep their upper bodies uncovered by the National Council of the Pidagaikars, the caste council of the Nairs of the state of Travancore in the early 1800s. This was perceived as a sign of respect towards the “upper” castes, and the Nadars had to pay amulakkaram or “breast tax” if they chose to cover themselves. In 1822, the practice sparked a series of violent agitations known as Maru Marakkal Samaram, or the Channar Revolt, where women from the Nadar and Ezhava communities demanded the right to wear the same clothing as “upper caste” women.  

Reinterpreting or hiding historical facts in textbooks fail to change social reality caste and communal atrocities abound. Its ironical, the government that wants people to create a knowledge society, access technology to fulfill global aspirations, wants to manoeuvre basic information on history. To influence young minds by doling out selective information or, misinformation narrows their world view, which, in the long run, is going to boomerang in a globalised competitive world. “If they don't read Shivaji they end up reading Genghis Khan,” stated the former Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Ram Shankar Katheria, drawing the communal lines in education system. It's dangerous, more so when such statements followed by actions are not challenged by the academia. 

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