BJP yoga is bad news for schools, UPA yoga is mandatory?

Yoga should be compulsory for all school children, says report of panel which includes Congress, Left MPs

Written by: shubhajitroy

2 min readNew DelhiMar 3, 2007 12:00 AM IST

The UPA government8217;s key constituents, the Congress and the Left, were the most vocal critics when the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government, headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, started yoga classes, especially the 8216;Surya Namaskar8217; and 8216;Pranayam8217;, in schools and colleges across the state. But the latest report tabled by a Parliamentary Standing Committee that includes high-profile Congress and Left MPs says the exact opposite.

Headed by Congress general secretary and MP Janardhan Dwivedi, the Standing Committee of the HRD ministry 8212; with CPM politburo member Brinda Karat and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as its members 8212; has recommended that yoga should be made mandatory for all schoolgoing children in the country.

The report, without any dissent note by any of its members, has said: 8220;The Committee is of the opinion that yoga is one stream of education, which will make a permanent and positive impact on a student8217;s life. Yoga has been gaining immense popularity due to the short-term as well as long-term benefits that it provides.

8220;Yoga helps one to achieve all-round development. Considering the vast potential of this ancient knowledge of India, the committee recommends that yoga be made compulsory for all school-going children in the country.8221;

The committee8217;s 188th report to the Parliament is in lieu of action taken on the recommendations or observations contained in the 174th report on demands for grants 2006-07 of the department of higher education in May this year. It was tabled in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha yesterday.

In response to the recommendation, Arjun Singh8217;s HRD ministry, in the report itself, has said that 8220;the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 8211; 2005 prepared by the NCERT provides for health and physical education as a compulsory subject from primary to secondary stage and as an optional subject at higher secondary stage. Yoga is one of the core components of health and physical education.8221; It may be recalled that Congress MLAs in MP had boycotted a yoga session held in MP assembly on February 20, which was conducted under the supervision of Baba Ramdev.