The Union government has chosen proposals from 17 higher education institutions across the nation to establish specialized centers known as “Prashikshana Kendras” for the development of courses of the Indian Knowledge System (IKS), including Indian Psychology for undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Indian Knowledge System (IKS) is a revolutionary division of the Ministry of Education (MoE) at AICTE, New Delhi. The National Education Policy (NEP) was created in 2020 to integrate IKS across all levels of education and support its implementation. As a follow-up to the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) April recommendations, higher education institutions include IKS courses in their curriculum.
IKS is to encourage interdisciplinary study, as well as to preserve and spread knowledge for future study and social uses. IKS is trying to spread India’s rich culture and knowledge in the fields of psychology, agriculture, basic sciences, engineering, architecture, management, economics, etc.
A Sneak Peek in Indian Psychology
The active voice version of the sentence would be: “People know Narendra Nath Sen Gupta as the father of Indian Psychology.” And, he led the foundation of the Indian Psychological Association in 1924. Consciousness-based interventions like yoga and affirmative spirituality root Indian Psychology. It talked about ‘Doshas & Guna’ in an individual.
“Indian psychology refers to a system or school of psychology derived from classical Indian thought and rooted in practices like yoga prevalent in Indian society for centuries” by Rao K.R. (2014).
Cornelissen, Misra, and Varma (2014) define Indian Psychology as “an approach that is based on rules and practices developed thousands of years ago within India.”
Selecting Procedure & Institutions
For selecting the institutions that would receive funding for the development of courses by IKS division used a three-step procedure. The committee shortlisted 26 out of 51 proposals for further consideration. The 26 institutions gave presentations to an expert committee after that the proposals were narrowed down to 17 by the experts.
The chosen institutions, include IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Bombay, IIT(BHU), Aryabhatta College in Delhi University, and Pune’s Trinity College of Engineering. We have selected these for developing courses on a range of IKS subjects, including Indian Psychology.
Funding & The Course
The primary task for the institutions is to create videos and supplementary materials for the faculty to equip them for delivering the specialized IKS courses as their core electives. For every course, the institution is going to receive funding of ₹8.5 lakh, with permission to develop between two and four courses.
The courses developed by these institutions will contain 45-50-minute-long lectures in the directory of 30-40 lectures by experts in that field. It is mandatory for the experts to be physically present for the recording of the lectures.
After the approval, these courses will be available as an elective for all higher education institutions to offer at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
