NEP 2020 And Indian Culture/Knowledge Systems: Quicker Implementation Needed

Backdrop:

The NEP has laid immense focus on Indian culture and language aspects. The vision of the Policy itself was to enable an “India Centric Educational System”. In the introductory part itself, the committee has observed that India in ancient times had contributed significantly to creation of knowledge in diverse areas through great institutions like Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramshila, Sharad Peetha, among others. India also had thought leaders like Charaka, Chanakya, Patanjali, Panini, among many others in different areas like science, medicine, politics, astronomy, etc. The ancient Indian civilization led to several modern concepts like zero, pie, theory of evolution, political management, medicine, surgery, architecture & construction, etc. The committee, therefore, felt that all these aspects of “Indian Knowledge System (IKS)” should be brought to the fore by christening it in the form of “liberal education”. This would help students understand and appreciate rich heritage of India and its tremendous contribution to the growth of the world at large.

Recommendations:

In the above context, the committee made certain specific recommendations as under:

Start from School Level: The thrust on “Indian language” should start from school level itself. The medium of instruction up to 8^th grade should be mother tongue / home language / local language. The committee also recommends that good textbooks in all subjects should be prepared in all Indian languages.

Project on Language of India: The committee has made an interesting recommendation that every school student between the grade of 6 to 8 would take up a project on the topic of “Languages of India” wherein they would study evolution and linkage between different Indian languages. This would help them to appreciate the richness of Indian languages.

Importance of Sanskrit: It is suggested that Sanskrit will be available as an “optional subject” across grades in schools and at higher education institutions so that the willing students can learn this classical and most ancient language. Besides Sanskrit, the students can also take up any two of the classical Indian languages through self-learning. All these are aimed towards helping the students to delve into the world of Indian languages.

Integration of Indian Knowledge System (IKS): The committee has recommended that this approach towards integrating rich Indian traditions and past into education process should continue at the higher education level as well through “liberal education approach”. All students of HEIs should, therefore, be encouraged to take ancillary subjects of India’s values and traditions like classical dance, Indian musical system, ancient Indian mathematics, etc. so that they appreciate the India’s true strength in terms of “Indian Knowledge System (IKS)”. The committee recommended the introduction of IKS as a subject in all HEIs.

Also Watch:

Current Stage of Implementation and Moving Ahead:

In nutshell, the committee has desired to move towards a fusion of western and Indian education so that students while graduating from the system not only become competent in global issues but also appreciate rich Indian culture, heritage, and diversity in terms of various languages. Aim is to create good “global citizens” with Indian values and ethos. While the objective seems to be noble, implementation on the ground will pose a humongous challenge. We need willing students; we also require competent as well as willing teachers who can contribute to this area. Both appear a bit difficult at this stage. While many Indian students are busy migrating to the west in search of higher education, there is dearth of teachers at all levels who are competent in Indian languages particularly for teaching subjects like science, mathematics, etc. Therefore, the challenge before the government is substantive.

As of today, things are moving quite slowly and more on a voluntary basis. At school level the implementation is quite less while in HEI domain some institutions like IITs, IIMs, IISc, TIFR, JNU, UOM, Delhi University, among others, there is some progress, thanks to passion and interest of individual faculty members. The IKS cell of MOE is quite active and offers lots of research grants but here again there is no concerted approach. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, one of the oldest trusts carrying forward Indian legacy has recently set up an IKS cell at Navi Mumbai Kendra but here also the activities are limited to talks on various IKS knowledge issues. What is needed is to bring out clearly the relevance of IKS in today’s context and how to apply them with western thoughts / principles to make a difference to solve Indian problems. There will be substantial time to reach the goal. Similarly, the focus on Sanskrit is increasing but nothing tangible is visible on the ground. For example, we need many more Veda Schools on Gurukul pattern like the one we have at SIES campus at Navi Mumbai. The country is on right track, but it will take substantive time to integrate the ancient wisdom and knowledge pool into our modern educational system. We hope the implementation is faster and policy makers & administrators do something quickly on ground.

By Dr A K Sen Gupta, Founder and Convener, Higher Education Forum (HEF). He may be contacted at aksengupta51@gmail.com or 98211 28103.

Published on: Monday, February 02, 2026, 09:01 PM IST