R for RSS. Guess who may begin teaching in MP’s state primary schools?

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has long been accused of attempting to ‘saffronise’ the Indian education system. The RSS’s revisionist education agenda has usually been implemented by the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry whenever the RSS-backed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power – by Murli Manohar Joshi during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, and the newly-demoted Smriti Irani. Before he was shunted out in last week’s expansion of the Council of Ministers, Minister of State (MoS) for HRD Ramshankar Katheria had said that there “will be saffronisation of education and the country” if it is good for the country.

But now, at least in Madhya Pradesh (MP), the RSS will no longer have to influence education using indirect methods. Thanks to a proposal readied by the Vidya Bharti Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Sansthan (VBABSS) – an RSS organisation that runs nearly 12,000 schools and 42 colleges across India, according to its website – teachers from 1,000 Saraswati Shishu Mandir (SSM) schools it runs will be loaned out to government primary schools.

Ramkumar Bhavsar, Madhya Bharat chief of VBABSS, told the The Indian Express that in addition to teaching mathematics and language, “we will also introduce cultural activities, if permitted, that are common in SSMs”. Meanwhile, Minister of State for School Education, MP, Deepak Joshi commended the organisation’s “excellent track record in rural areas” and told IE that “we have no hesitation in accepting the proposal”.

The plan will be implemented in 1,000 government-run primary schools in MP, if the pilot plan is successful.