Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: It is incredible but true: schools in Saudi Arabia are teaching students about Hindu scriptures including Mahabharata, and Ramayana, and also Buddhism, and Gautam Buddha, as part of their social science syllabus.
These changes are part of the latest policy adopted by the Arab nation, called Vision 2030, in which Riyadh is trying to diversify its economy and develop public service sectors including health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism, according to media reports.
Under Vision 2030, the English language has also been made mandatory
It all came into the public domain recently when Nouf al Marwaai, the first certified Yoga instructor of Saudi Arabia whom India awarded with a Padma Shree, took to Twitter to talk about the development.
She wrote “Saudi Arabia’s new #vision2030 & curriculum will help to create coexistent, moderate & tolerant generation. Screenshots of my son’s school exam today in Social Studies included concepts & history of Hinduism, Buddhism, Ramayana, Karma, Mahabharata & Dharma. I enjoyed helping him study”.
Nouf also shared screenshots which she said are part of her son’s scholastic assignments. These screenshots carried multiple-choice questions on Nirvana, Jati (Caste), Siddhartha Gautama’s life, and Hindu beliefs including dharma, karma among others.
In a series of reforms undertaken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) for Saudi Arabia, education is a top priority. Riyadh’s plans to inculcate information about Hinduism and Buddhism, and apprise the students with epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata is part of it.
Besides, the media reported that Prince Salman is attempting to mainstream yoga and Ayurveda as well.
Not only the Saudis and other foreign educators, but several Indian educational institutes had also turned to the religious scriptures during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Last year, the Jawaharlal Nehru University organized leadership lessons from Ramayana and a webinar on “Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita during the Covid-19 crisis”.
Anna University introduced philosophy for undergraduate engineering students in 2019, and added some topics from Hinduism, including Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Vedas.
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Sir Sundar Lal Hospital, (IMS-BHU) also came up with a “Garbh Sanskara therapy” that aims at inculcating a “cultured, vigorous, virtuous, healthy, beautiful child with a divine soul and high IQ”.