‘What’s Wrong With Saffronising Education?' Asks India’s Vice President Naidu

Naidu said, "We must give up our colonial mindset and teach our children to take pride in their Indian identity."

Asking for the rejection of the Macaulay system of education in the 75th year of India’s Independence, Naidu said that the system imposed a foreign language as the medium of education in the country and confined education to the elite. Image used for representative purposes. 

(Photo: Samarth Grover/The Quint)

India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday, 19 March, asked what was wrong in saffronising education and expressed the need to go back to “our roots” and “traditional wisdom”, while rejecting “the colonial mindset”.

Naidu said this in his address, after inaugurating the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar.

Asking for the rejection of the Macaulay system of education in the 75th year of India’s Independence, Naidu said that the system imposed a foreign language as the medium of education in the country and confined education to the elite.

‘We Were Taught To Despise Our Own Culture’, Claims Naidu

Venkaiah Naidu said, "Centuries of colonial rule taught us to look upon ourselves as an inferior race. We were taught to despise our own culture, traditional wisdom. This slowed our growth as a nation. The imposition of a foreign language as our medium of education confined education to a small section of the society, depriving a vast population of the right to education,” news agency PTI reported.

He added, "We should feel proud of our heritage, our culture, our forefathers. We must go back to our roots. We must give up our colonial mindset and teach our children to take pride in their Indian identity. We must learn as many Indian languages as possible. We must love our mother tongue. We must learn Sanskrit to know our scriptures, which are a treasure trove of knowledge," the Vice President said.

Stating that a person’s mother tongue is like their eyesight, whereas their knowledge of a foreign language is like their spectacles, Naidu said that the Indianisation of the education system is central to India's new education policy.

"We are accused of saffronising education, but then what is wrong with saffron? Sarve Bhawantu Sukhinah (all be happy) and Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (the world is one family), which are philosophies contained in our ancient texts, are the guiding principles of India's foreign policy even today," Vice President Naidu said.

(With inputs from PTI.)