Manoj Jha counters VP Naidu's 'saffronising' quip: 'No need to paint education in colours'

Countering Vice President Venkaiah Naidu's remark on 'saffronising education', RJD MP Manoj Jha on Sunday, said there was no need to paint education with any colour. Speaking to ANI, he said that education was important to develop reasoning - which was now getting clouded by faith nowadays. Naidu has called for the rejection of the Macaulay system of education from the country in the 75th year of Independence.

'No need to paint education with any colour': Manoj Jha

"Education is important to develop reasoning. Saffron, green and red is not important. No need to paint education with any colour. Now reasoning is getting clouded by faith," said Manoj Jha.

On Saturday, VP Venkaiah Naidu asked 'what is wrong with saffron', in response to allegations that the government is saffronising education. Indians must give up their “colonial mindset” and learn to take pride in their Indian identity, the vice president said in his address after inaugurating the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya in Haridwar. Naidu accused the Macaulay system of imposing a foreign language as the medium of education, confining it to the elite.

"Centuries of colonial rule taught us to look upon ourselves as an inferior race. We were taught to despise our own culture, traditional wisdom. This slowed our growth as a nation. The imposition of a foreign language as our medium of education confined education to a small section of the society, depriving a vast population of the right to education," said Naidu. Thomas Babington Macaulay was a British historian who played a major role in the introduction of English as the medium of instruction for education in India.

Batting for Indian languages, he added, “We must give up our colonial mindset and teach our children to take pride in their Indian identity. We must learn as many Indian languages as possible and must love our mother tongue. We are accused of saffronising education, but then what is wrong with saffron?".

“I am looking forward to the day when all gadget notifications are issued in the mother tongue of a respective state. Your mother tongue is like your eyesight, whereas your knowledge of a foreign language is like your spectacles," he said. The National  Education Policy introduced by Centre in 2020 has recommended medium of instruction to be the regional language at least till Class 5 and preferably till Class 8.