Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas

Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (en: Trust for the Uplift of Education and Culture^[1]) is a Hindu right-wing educational activist organisation founded by Dinanath Batra, a former pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the former director of its education wing Vidya Bharati. The Nyas, founded on 18 May 2007, works in collaboration with a sister organisation Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti (Campaign Committee for Saving Education), which was also founded by Batra. The stated objective of the Nyas is to find and establish alternatives to the present education system in India by changing its "syllabus, system, methods and policy" in an effort to "Indianise" it, which in effect means moulding it in a Hindu nationalist framework (popularly called "saffronisation").^[2]

Key members

The key members of the Nyas include, in addition to Batra:^[3]

• J. S. Rajput, a former chairman of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), who helped prepare a new curriculum framework,
• Kapil Kapoor, a former pro-Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a present member of the review committee for the University Grants Commission, who is also involved in the curriculum framework, and
• Atul Kothari, former general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, co-convenor of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti and the general secretary of the Nyas.

Activism

Batra has said in July 2014 that the Nyas is focusing on six subjects:

• "total development" of the child,
• character-building,
• environment,
• Vedic mathematics,
• Hindi and other scheduled languages of India, and
• autonomy in the field of education.

On the matter of autonomy, the Nyas demands that there should be an all-India autonomous (non-governmental) education commission. It has proposed a commission of 21 members called Bharatiya Shiksha Niti Ayog (Indian Commission for Educational Principles) and already recruited 9 members, with the former director of CBSE Badrinath Khandelwal among them.^[4] The Commission is mandated to "suggest corrective steps" to "indianise" the education system, according to a leader of the RSS. Observers believe that the Commission will become a rather powerful body due to the backing of the RSS, somewhat akin to the "National Advisory Council" of the Congress Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, which dictated terms to the United Progressive Alliance government.^[5]

On 7 August 2014, India Today reported that Batra had met the Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani and she promised him that the Government would soon constitute a National Education Commission. Batra had also asked Irani to intervene when the National Curriculum Framework is changed in 2015 so that the NCERT does not continue with what he regards as a "flawed curriculum."^[3] The same magazine reported in November 2014 that the minister seems to be caught between the pressure from the RSS groups and the need to deliver results, being unable to take decisions as a result.^[6]

It has been reported that Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, the sister organisation of the Nyas, will be convening a national conference in December 2014, with 200 academics and experts, to review the recommendations of the previous panels on education and identify deficiencies in the current system. Based on these deliberations the organisation will submit a report to the Human Resource Development ministry to guide the new education policy.^[7][8][9]

See also

• NCERT controversy
• Saffronisation

References

1. "`NCERT textbooks are dotted with disgraceful words, distorted history'". Deccan Chronicle. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
2. "The works of Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas". Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samity. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
3. "How saffron fringe is shaking the Centre". India Today. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
4. "`It pleases me when people say we want to saffronise education'". Rediff. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
5. Jha, Dhirendra K. (2 August 2014). "RSS sets up panel to supervise saffronisation of education". scroll.in. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
6. "In command and control". India Today. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
7. "Sangh sets up panel to push `saffronisation' of education". Business Standard. 27 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
8. "Preparing a blueprint to `Indianise' education: Dinanath Batra". Firstpost. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
9. "RSS starts work on a new chapter for education to inculcate proper Indian nationalistic values in students". 2classnotes.com. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-14.

External links

• bharatiyasiksha.com - Organisation web site
• "The works of Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas" at the web site of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samity