Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s statement has come to the fore regarding whether the Bhagavad Gita will be included in the curriculum of Karnataka schools. Bommai on Saturday said the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ imparts moral values. The decision to include it in the curriculum of school education will be taken after discussion.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat had on Thursday announced that the Bhagavad Gita will be part of the school curriculum for classes VI to XII in the state from the academic year 2022-23. To a question on the government’s inclusion of Bhagavad Gita in the school curriculum, Bommai said, “It has been done in Gujarat and our minister says he will discuss it.” Let us see what details the education department comes up with.
Talking to the media, the Chief Minister said that his intention is to impart education and moral values to the children. He said more details could be disclosed only after discussion. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah said in Mangaluru that the Congress was not opposed to imparting moral education to children through the Bhagavad Gita or any other religious text. We believe in the Constitution and secularism. You let them (BJP) teach Bhagavad Gita or Quran or Bible, we have no objection. They should provide quality education to the children according to the need of today.
Noting that no decision has been taken by the government in this matter so far, the Congress leader said that information related to Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata is given in every Hindu family and plays based on these texts are also organized. He said that moral education is necessary but nothing should be done against the constitution. Siddaramaiah said, ‘We are a multi-cultural society and a country of diversity and we all should live together with tolerance.’
At the same time, after Gujarat’s decision to include the Bhagavad Gita in the school curriculum, Karnataka’s Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh on Friday said that the state government will discuss with academicians before taking any such decision. Nagesh had told reporters that there has been an erosion of cultural values among the children. He said that many people have demanded that the study of moral science should be started. According to Nagesh, in the first week there was a class on moral science in which excerpts related to Ramayana and Mahabharata were taught.