Bengaluru, April 19 : “From next academic year, moral education will be added to the school syllabus. ‘Bhagavad Gita,’ ‘Mahabharat’ and ‘Panchatantra Stories’ will also be part of moral education,” Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh said. Though the aspects from various religious texts beneficial to children would be adopted, the aspects of a particular religion followed by 90 percent of children would inevitably be preferred more, he told reporters here. The BJP government had been mulling to introduce Bhagavad Gita as part of moral education on lines of Gujarat government. A similar decision was announced by the Haryana Government in December 2021 when Haryana education minister Kanwarpal Gurjar had declared that the state government will include the verses of Gita in the syllabus from the next academic year. Replying to a query, Nagesh said the title ‘Mysuru Huli’ (Lion of Mysuru) of Tipu Sultan will be retained in the textbooks. Moreover, BJP MLA Appachu Ranjan had written a letter to Nagesh urging to include those historical facts of Tipu Sultan that have not been included in the textbooks for some reasons. He said the erstwhile Mysuru ruler was an anti-Kannada ruler who imposed the Persian language on the administration. His atrocities in Kodagu must also be taught to children, Ranjan added. BDN SHK1940
