Page 6 - Guidelines for Training/ Orientation of Faculty on IKS

GUIDELINES FOR INCORPORATING INDIAN KNOWLEDGE IN
HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULA

1. Preamble:
The National Educational Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) recommends the incorporation of Indian
Knowledge System (IKS) into the curriculum at all levels of education:

“The heritage of ancient and eternal IKS and thought has been a guiding light for this Policy. The
pursuit of Knowledge (Jñāna), wisdom (Prajñā), and truth (Satya) was always considered in Indian
thought and philosophy as the highest human goal. … The Indian education system produced
great scholars such as Charaka, Susruta, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Bhaskaracharya, Brahmagupta,
Chanakya, Chakrapani Datta, Madhava, Panini, Patanjali, Nagarjuna, Gautama, Pingala, Sankardev,
Maitreyi, Gargi and Thiruvalluvar, among numerous others, who made seminal contributions to

world knowledge in diverse fields such as mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, medical science and
surgery, civil engineering, architecture, shipbuilding and navigation, yoga, fine arts, chess, and more.
Indian culture and philosophy have had a strong influence on the world. These rich legacies to world
heritage must be nurtured and preserved for posterity and researched, enhanced, and put to new uses
through our education system.” (NEP 2020, p.4. Emphasis added.)

To implement this vision, UGC constituted an expert committee to formulate guidelines for
incorporating Indian Knowledge System into the higher education curricula of our country. The
purpose of these guidelines for incorporating Indian Knowledge System into higher curricula is
to provide a roadmap for systematic study and research of various disciplines of IKS and provide
guidelines for incorporating IKS into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.

2. Background:
Indian Knowledge System encompasses all of the systematized disciplines of Knowledge
which were developed to a high degree of sophistication in India from ancient times and
all of the traditions and practises that the various communities of India—including the tribal

communities—have evolved, refined and preserved over generations.

The UGC-recognized academic institutions provide undergraduate and postgraduate education to
the most number of students in India and form the bedrock of the higher education system in India.
Therefore, it is imperative that the curriculums in these institutions incorporate IKS-related subjects
in their curricula to implement the NEP 2020 in letter and spirit.

It is imperative that we expeditiously implement the following policy prescriptions, which are an
important part of the NEP 2020:

a. Research on Indian Knowledge System should be among the mandated tasks to
be undertaken by all our institutions of higher learning.
b. Indian Knowledge System should form an essential part of the curricula taught in
our schools, colleges and other institutions of higher learning.

5
University Grants Commission