In a bid to promote value-based ancient Gurukul education system in the State, Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal has announced that the State Government would provide land free of cost to those Gurukuls which would provide free education to the children. Besides, it would also assist in making all the necessary arrangements required to run such Gurukuls including the teachers.
The Haryana Chief Minister made this announcement while speaking as a Chief Guest in a programme on ‘Relevance of the Gurukul system in the present era’ organized by Panchnad Shodh Sansthan, Chandigarh on August 7. While underlining the significance of Gurukuls in providing education based on renunciation and dedication to the children, the Chief Minister said that instead of confining just to the 3R education that is reading, writing, and ‘arithmetic, the moral values, yoga, patriotism should be made a part of the education system for the overall development of children.
He said that as per the ancient system, it was the moral responsibility in our society to provide facilities of health and education to the people free of cost but ironically today, on one hand, the common man lacked ample resources to get these facilities, the resourceful or rich people spent immense wealth for such facilities. The Chief Minister said that the State Government has taken several steps for bringing about a qualitative change in the education system. A major chunk of the State budget is spent on providing free education to the children. Now, the State Government has also constituted a 21 members State Higher Education Council under the Chairmanship of Prof B.K. Kuthiala, to create an enabling environment for promoting academic excellence. He also advocated abolishing the no detention policy for class first to eighth in schools saying that the system has adversely affected the studying habit of students as they have no fear of failing in the examinations.
He said that Haryana has made its mark in various spheres world over. Earlier, the Gita Jayanti Samaroh was organized in Kurukshetra at a much smaller scale. The present State Government has been organizing Gita Jayanti Samaroh of international level. People from 25 countries have participated in the Samaroh during the last three years. He said that this year, programmes of Gita Jayanti Samaroh would also be organized in Mauritius and United Kingdom (UK). The invitation has been received from these countries in this regard, he added.
Earlier, speaking on this occasion, Director, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh Dr. Jagat Ram described Gurukul education as the best education system which aims at the overall development of children. Director, Panchnad Shodh Sansthan Prof B.K. Kuthiala said that the Panchnad Shodh Sansthan was set up in the year 1984-85 with an aim to maintain a sense of harmony in the society. He said that at present 32 Shodh Sansthan are functional in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir where the intellectual wing of the Sansthan hold discussions on scores of social, cultural and political issues. Executive President of Panchnad Shodh Sansthan, Dr. Krishan Arya thrown light on the relevance of gurukul education in the society. He said that gurukul education is based on Guru-Shishya tradition. Main speaker of the programme, Mukul Kanitkar said that at present more than 4000 Gurukuls are functioning in the country. Laying special emphasis on the promotion of Sanskrit language, he said that the entire world is going to adopt Gurukul education in the next 15 years. Finland has already adopted Gurukul education two years ago under which instead of subject wise, topic wise education is imparted to the students.
