City lacks institutes to provide BEd in Sanskrit

There are eight colleges in the city which provide BA (Honours) in Sanskrit.

While efforts are being made to revive the popularity of the ancient language, Sanskrit, none of the institutes in the city has the provision to allow students to pursue it as a teaching subject in BEd.

There are 570 BEd seats in five affiliated colleges of Panjab University (PU) but only two of them provide BEd in academic teaching, while the rest are for yoga education and mental health.

Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36-B, has 200 seats for BEd whereas Government College of Education, Sector 20-D, has 300.

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Highlighting the issue, chairperson of the Chandigarh Sanskrit Academy, Udyan Arya said, “There are many students who graduate with BA (Honours) in Sanskrit each year, but have to go to colleges in Haryana and Punjab to pursue BEd in Sanskrit. If the colleges in the adjoining states are providing this facility, then why not Chandigarh?”

Adding that there are eight colleges in the city which provide BA (Honours) in Sanskrit, Arya added, “It is important that an ancient language like Sanskrit be included in BEd in city colleges.”

Principal, Government College of Education, Harsh Batra, said that currently both the colleges do not have the required faculty and facilities to provide teaching in Sanskrit to BEd students. “But these students are eligible to get admission in BEd after they take any of the other three subjects in BA as teaching subject,” added Batra.

However, she said that with increasing emphasis on the importance of Sanskrit, colleges are planning to start providing BEd (Sanskrit) from next year.

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Meanwhile, members of Chandigarh Sanskrit Academy met Sandeep Hans, Director Higher Education, and discussed the issue.

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