It is the misfortune of India that its ancient knowledge is used as a political tool instead of developing critical thinking, said Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday, August 29, 2022. According to an official statement, the remark was made during an inaugural session of a lecture series at Ambedkar University titled ‘Deshik Vyakhyan’.
“Our ancient knowledge was eminent and valuable, however, it was neither updated nor carried forward. There was no scientific analysis of its content,” Sisodia, who is also Delhi education minister, said.
He further added that for generations, there was a greater emphasis on practicing the ancient teachings instead of understanding the philosophy behind them. “This was a grave injustice of our education system,” the minister added.
According to the minister, if the foundation of any country or society is to be built or strengthened, education is the only source. “It is the misfortune of our country that instead of developing critical thinking, our ancient knowledge is used as a political tool. This is the reason why no government has focused on education,” Sisodia said.
As per the official statement by the Government of Delhi, through its lecture, it aims to create awareness amongst the young students about the research methodology, scientific experiments, and experiments of social consciousness with an emphasis on the experiments in the field of education along with the predictions for the future of India documented in the 18th to 19th century.
Furthermore, Sisodia remarked that the school decides the strength of any society or country and the universities determine its successes.
“If society goes astray on any issue, it means that its base, the schooling system, is weak. It is the universities that decide the pinnacle of critical thinking in any society,” the Delhi education minister and deputy chief minister further added.
With inputs from PTI.
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