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Ancient texts and concepts are being incorporated in the curriculum at these premier tech institutes in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that envisages on education “rooted in Indian ethos”.
The NEP, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government in July 2020, focuses on creating an education system that is rooted in Indian ethos, deriving knowledge from the traditional knowledge systems. (Image: Shutterstock)
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi is set to launch a programme in the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) from next semester starting January 2025. From Ayurveda, yoga, meditation to the vedas, IKS is being taught at most IITs now. While some have made it mandatory with credits for it, the others are testing it for students’ response.
Even as academics and the Opposition have been questioning the future application of this programme, ancient texts and concepts are being incorporated in the curriculum at these premier tech institutes in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that envisages on education “rooted in Indian ethos”.
According to Prof Nomesh Bolia, department of mechanical engineering and principal investigator of the IKS project at IIT-Delhi, the IKS project aims to create four knowledge platforms in the broad domains of – public systems, education and pedagogy, technology and healthcare, and well-being.
“It will focus on not just being inspired by IKS as something that happened in the past, but also develop thought on how it can be relevant for us now and in the future. It will include how we can use our civilisational knowledge in life today,” said Prof Bolia.
The programme includes research and workshops. Courses under the programme are yet to be designed. It will be introduced in the next semester two or three times to see students’ response. “It is not being mandatory at the moment, it will be formalised later upon seeing students response,” he said.
At many IITs, IKS courses are mandatory and have to be taken up by all undergraduate students for which they get credits.
IIT-Gandhinagar offers a semester course on Introduction to IKS, which is taught by scholars from across India and the institute’s faculty members.
The IKS cell at IIT-Hyderabad is working on discovering knowledge, and disseminating it in traditional Indian systems. The cell focuses on areas including yoga, mathematics and Ayurveda, among others.
In August this year, IIT-Mandi proposed to set up an IKS and Mental Health Applications Centre (IKSHMA) on its campus. It will focus on studying of mind, brain and consciousness, as well as include applications from several areas like consciousness studies, yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, traditional Indian medicine research, and other Indian performing arts.
The institute also courted controversy after it introduced a mandatory course titled ‘Introduction to Consciousness and Well-being’ that included subjects like reincarnation for first-year BTech students. The move drew criticism from across academia. IIT-Mandi, however, in its rationale, said the course was introduced by its IKS department in accordance with the directions of the union Ministry of Education (MoE).
Several IITs, including IIT-Mandi, IIT-Madras, IIT Gandhinagar and IIT-BHU, house IKS research centres, which are funded by the IKS division under the ministry for various projects taken up under them.
How IKS made its way to higher education
The NEP, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government in July 2020, focuses on creating an education system that is rooted in Indian ethos, deriving knowledge from the traditional knowledge systems.
The policy recommends incorporating concepts for understanding from the Indian ancient knowledge systems in the curriculum in a ‘scientific’ manner. This spans across areas including mathematics, Ayurveda, yoga, architecture, agriculture, sports, medicine and various performing arts.
An IKS division under the MoE was launched in October 2020. This cell is set up at the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
Prof Ganti S Murthy, national coordinator of the IKS division, who is also a faculty member at IIT-Indore, said that, studying IKS involves scientific, evidence-based study, which has practical implications. “It involves empirical enquiry, which is based on accepted standards of experimentation, and not something vague as many people may wrongly interpret. Whatever we do in this division, we look at it from the Indian perspective, be it mathematical calculations, chemistry or medicine. For example, Bharatiya Ganita, which has a computational approach, which can be used while one is studying say AI-ML,” said Prof Murthy, who teaches at the department of biosciences and biomedical engineering at IIT-Indore.
The IKS division is set to launch 15 minors for undergraduate students across the country, which can be taken up by students with any major discipline they are pursuing. “The division will be launching these minors, which will have 10-15 courses with 24 credits. It will be available on the Swayam platform and students from any part of the country could pursue these with their major degree course,” he added.
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