Dehradun: days later announcement of State Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat has said that Vedas, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita will be taught in Uttarakhand schools, State Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat has said that an MBBS course in Hindi is on the agenda.
Speaking to ThePrint, Rawat said that the government is working on a plan to provide education in Hindi in medical colleges of the state. This, he claimed, was in line with the new national education policy (NEP), which emphasizes “Indian knowledge system” and instruction in the local language or “mother tongue”.
“We are committed to start MBBS course in Hindi as per the new National Education Policy of the Centre. This will help Hindi-medium students to come at par with English-medium-educated counterparts,” said the education minister.
“Often, Ujjwal Hindi medium MBBS students face many difficulties. They are forced to follow the English medium education system [in college] In the absence of the language of his choice,” he said.
Rawat said the government would soon finalize its action plan for the Hindi medium MBBS degree course, adding that all efforts would be made to implement the program for the 2023-2024 academic session.
Uttarakhand currently has three state government-run medical colleges – Doon Medical College in Dehradun, Government Medical College in Haldwani, and Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Institute of Medical Science and Research in Srinagar. The Central Government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh also offers MBBS courses.
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‘Medical experts will prepare Hindi MBBS books’
When asked about the difficult task of developing curriculum material in Hindi, Rawat said that the state government was ready for the task.
“It will be a challenge, but the state government will employ it with the help of its skilled academic hands and experts to prepare the course material in Hindi,” Rawat said.
He said that the Hindi MBBS program would be implemented in a planned manner with the help of medical experts and the central government.
To a question about the paucity of medical textbooks in Hindi, the education minister was similarly optimistic.
“Adequate study material will be made available in the market to the medical students. New MBBS Books in Hindi will be prepared by medical experts. In fact, the new books prepared by us will also help students from other states in the Hindi belt,” said Rawat.
The Education Minister of Uttarakhand emphasized that even students who score well in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for Medical Colleges sometimes find themselves at a disadvantage due to the need to complete their courses in English.
When asked about the feasibility of the Uttarakhand government’s plan to conduct MBBS courses in Hindi, Dr. Aruna V. Wanikar, member of the National Medical Commission (NMC) and chairman of the Board of Graduate Medical Education, said there should be no impediment, however. Final decision is pending. with NMC
“This is a policy decision to be taken by the NMC, subject to the guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry. However, I personally feel that preparing study material and other validity will not be a problem. The Indian system of medicine has made great progress and books and other study materials can be easily read in Hindi when needed.”
A promise to schools: Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana
Following in the footsteps of several other BJP-ruled states – Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh – the Uttarakhand government is keen to include Hindu scriptures in the school curriculum.
Rawat earlier this month said The NEP recommended the inclusion of Indian traditions and history in the curriculum.
When asked about this, he told ThePrint: “We are committed to implementing NEP in Uttarakhand and incorporating Vedas and Bhagavad Gita in school education. Educating children about Indian traditional knowledge in their mother tongue is one of the most important principles of the NEP.”
Rawat said the wheels on the project are beginning to turn. “This is being done with the help of academic experts from the state and the people of Uttarakhand. Once the syllabus is finalized and documented, it will be implemented,” he said.
“We are moving ahead with our plan to become the first state to implement NEP from this academic session (2022-2023),” he said.
When asked whether the curriculum would be applicable only to government schools or even private institutions, Rawat said that this aspect is still under consideration: “It is not finalized yet, but if necessary, traditional Indian culture in India A mechanism will be put in place to implement the knowledge system. Private schools too.”
(Edited by Asawari Singh)
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