Courtesy: AFP
Make Ambedkar’s thoughts part of school and college syllabi
A former DGP of Gujarat says that in place of the extravagant token celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti by various political parties, there should be concrete programmes to implement Ambedkar’s thoughts. This articulation is a fitting tribute to DrBabasahebAmbedkar on his 125thbirth anniversary as also on the 65thanniversary of the Constitution. The retired IPS officer has written to the Prime Minister that the multi-faceted contribution of Ambedkar can be found in his programmes for the emancipation and empowerment of India’s long-enslaved and marginalised people and in the conception and creation of the Constitution of India. Implementing his ideas would be the true way forward for the country
Ambedkarism should be incorporated in the curricula of all schools at the middle and high school levels. For the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) course, a secondary text book is prescribed for the language papers (English, regional languages or Hindi). Till now, the Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi and books by Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand (Hindi), Umashankar Joshi (Gujarati), ThakazhiShivashankara Pillai (Malayalam), Thiruvalluvar (Tamil), Ananda Murthy (Kannada), Sharat Chandra Chatterjee (Bengali) and Kalidas (Sanskrit) have been included.
As part of Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations, Ambedkar’s epoch-making incisive book ‘Annihilation of Caste’ (1936) could be introduced as an additional textbook for all SSC-level students in India.
At the university level, BA and MA courses on Ambedkarism could be introduced. Course material should include theoretical concepts as well as practical skill training in social welfare, gender justice and civil rights. To make the students who hold degrees in Ambedkarism eligible for employment in government welfare programmes, the course should include awareness-creation about social legislations on problems like dowry, child labour, drug addiction, empowerment of the marginalized,and qualitative improvements in the delivery of socio-economic welfare schemes for targeted people.
Incorporating Ambedkar in curricula should not be a problem as Madurai Kamraj University in Tamilnaduhas been conducting graduate and post-graduate courses on Gandhian thought for 10 years now.
Books by Ambedkar
(1) Annihilation of Caste, (2) Buddha and his Dharma, (3) Rise and Fall of Hindu women, (4) Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah, (5) States and Minorities, (6) Who were the Shudras, (7) Riddles of Hinduism, (8) Untouchables, (9) What Congress and Gandhi have Done to the Untouchables, (10) Revolution and Counter Revolutions in India, (11) Buddha and Karl Marx and (12) Speeches in the Constituent Assembly
Papers that can be designed for BA/MA courses in Ambedkarism:
(1) Life and basic work of Ambedkar,
(2) Ambedkar’s views on the origins and of the evil caste system,
(3) Ambedkar’s jurisprudence,
(4) Ambedkar’s ideas on welfare economics,
(5) Ambedkar’s contribution in the making of the Constitution and other legislations,
(6) Relevance of Ambedkar’s ideas for social upliftand enlightenment,
(7) Ambedkar’s ideas on science, technology, development and distributive justice,
(8) Ambedkar’s political ideology,
(9) Ambedkar’s vision for India’s future,
(10) Interface of Ambedkar with his contemporaries in public life,
(11) Ambedkar’s views on Buddhism and Marxism,
(12) Critical study of Ambedkar’s book ‘The Riddles of Hinduism’,
(13) Relevance and applicability of Ambedkarism in today’s India