Saffronisation of education is okay, but hijabs are out?

Education
Image Courtesy:mid-day.com

In a bid to reject the ‘Macaulay system of education’ in India, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on March 19, 2022, indicated that he felt that there was nothing wrong with the saffronisation of education. His statement comes at a time when Karnataka colleges are bereft with a controversy regarding the use of hijabs inside classrooms.

Speaking at the inaugural event of the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, Naidu said that India must give up on its “colonial mindset”. According to The Hindu, he said, “We are accused of saffronising education, but then what is wrong with saffron?”

Citing ancient Indian universities of Nalanda and Taxila and ideals like Sarve Bhawantu Sukhinah (all be happy) and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), he said that “Indianisation” of the education system is central to India’s new National Education Policy 2020. It may be noted that the All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) has repeatedly opposed this policy since its inception despite Covid-19 restrictions.

In previous protests, the AIFRTE pointed out that the homogenisation and centralisation process of the policy are antithetical to the progress of mother tongues, regional languages and knowledge diversity; in stark contrast to Naidu’s assurance that the policy empowers local languages.

However, in the context of India’s current political environment, Naidu’s speech raises the question of why Karnataka girl students were refused their right to a hijab if the central government is willing to let education be influenced by Hindu religion.

Similarly, the Hindustan Times on March 21, reported that the Karnataka government will set up a committee to decide on inclusion of Hindu holy text Bhagavad Gita in school syllabus. According to officials, this is as per the policy guidelines and in line with the syllabus in Gujarat.

Yet when Muslim girls approached the Karnataka High Court, the same leniency was not shown for their right to wear hijabs if they chose to. While addressing the case, two of the key questions that needed to be seen together were the essentialism of hijab in Islamic faith and girls’ rights to freedom of expression and privacy. However, the court only considered the former and refused to strike down the state government’s ban on hijab.

Considering fundamental rights were dismissed in this case, it is worth considering if the government should be pushing an education policy that has received as many as 51 objections from the AIFRTE for reasons varying from inequality to corporate gain.