Page 7 - Guidelines for Training/ Orientation of Faculty on IKS

Guidelines for Training/ Orientation of Faculty on IKS

the cross-disciplinary connections. The primary aim of these courses is to sensitize

teachers about the possible interdisciplinary education which is a key aspect of the NEP
2020. As an example, a course on mathematics and astronomy could be conducted and

discuss the simultaneous development of mathematical tools and astronomy models in
India. This course could serve the needs of faculty in mathematics and astronomy

disciplines. A second example course could be a course on civil engineering,
architectural engineering and town planning serving the disciplines of civil

engineering, architecture and town planning.

b. Discipline-specific courses: The discipline specific courses must be focused on a
particular subject. These courses are designed to provide a comprehensive

understanding of the discipline in the IKS. The course should be usually designed using

multiple source texts as the reference material. For example, a course on chemistry
could use Rasaratnakara, Rasaratnasamucchaya, Sarveshwararasayana etc. The

ayurvedic concepts of Dravyaguna shastra with the underlying philosophy from the
Vaisheshika-Darshana can be taught together with their correlations to biochemistry,

biophysics, and process engineering. A course for chemistry students can focus on the
aspects related to the herbo-metal and mineral substances from a Dravyaguna

perspective while a course for Physics students can focus more on the classification of

materials as per the Vaisheshika-Darshana. Designing the course content is a challenge
that needs to be carefully thought out by a team of experts in both traditional shastras

and modern subjects as most of the IKS subjects do not map cleanly to their modern
counterparts. For example, a chemistry-related book such as Rasaratnakara will have a

discussion on laboratory construction and furnace construction in addition to discussing
purely the chemistry aspects.

c. Specialized courses: Specialized courses are to be designed for providing in-depth and

comprehensive knowledge of a particular text. These courses should be open to those
faculty who would like to develop specific expertise in a subject on a particular text

and must be taught preferably in person by the experts. The courses must be designed

to convey the primary purpose of the text along with objective, layout, concise and
precise way (sutraic) of presenting ideas, content, etc. It may be envisioned that these

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