Set up new national school board: Baba Ramdev to Narendra Modi government - The Economic Times
HARIDWAR: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has proposed a new national school board focused on "Indianising" the education system and is hoping to get Prime Minister Narendra Modi's backing for the idea.
The proposed board will allow affiliated schools to offer a blend of the traditional gurukul system with a modern curriculum, Ramdev told ET. He's calling it the Bharatiya Board of Secondary Education or BBSE.
"I raised this issue with Modiji one-and-a-half months after his swearing in," Ramdev said. "At this point, all I can only tell you is that the honourable PM is not here to enjoy the fruits of power. He wants to change the current systems. He wants our education system to be holistic, a blend of modern and Indian. He seems committed to the idea."
Ramdev had campaigned aggressively for Modi before the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The yoga guru added that he will soon pitch the idea to Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani as well, but not before he holds a conference of educationists in Haridwar to draw up the broad contours of the proposal. Irani was not available for comment despite repeated attempts by ET.
The move comes as some affiliates of the Sangh Parivar, such as Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti founder Dinanath Batra, have called for changes in the curriculum to better reflect Indian values. Gujarat has already made Batra's books compulsory in schools, leading to criticism by some experts.
Elaborating on his proposal, Ramdev said the proposed board's curriculum would be secular and would blend Indian heritage, values and the glory of past and present achievements.
"In mathematics we'll include a few chapters of Vedic maths so that students can do a comparative study. The history being taught to our students was written from the point of view of our colonial rulers. When we learn about Hitler we talk of his cruelty, but the English people have not been less cruel than him. We have to teach history from the point of view of justice," he said.
According to Ramdev, systems such as the Central Board of Secondary Education are restrictive and don't focus enough on gurukul methods. BBSE, if approved by the government, will allow Acharyakulam to sustain its model of education right up to class 12.
According to Ramdev aide Acharya Balkrishna, the new plan would also benefit thousands of other schools in the country that follow similar models but are not affiliated to any education board.
"There are many schools in the country such as the Vidya Bharati schools (run by the Rashtrya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the gurukuls run by the Arya Samaj which have no uniformity in their curriculum and functioning. A new board will benefit all," Balkrishna said.
poor kids,i would cant imagine studying for 12hrs in school fro 220days a year 
