India's ancient knowledge should be used to develop critical thinking: Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said it is the misfortune of India that its ancient knowledge is used as a political tool instead of developing critical thinking.He made the remark during an inaugural session of a lecture series at Ambedkar University titled Deshik Vyakhyan.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said it is the misfortune of India that its ancient knowledge is used as a political tool instead of developing critical thinking.

He made the remark during an inaugural session of a lecture series at Ambedkar University titled 'Deshik Vyakhyan'. ''Our ancient knowledge was eminent and valuable, however, it was neither updated nor carried forward. There was no scientific analysis of its content,'' Sisodia, who is also Delhi Education Minister, said.

''For generations, there was a greater emphasis on practicing the ancient teachings instead of understanding the philosophy behind it. This was a grave injustice of our education system,'' he said. ''It is the misfortune of our country that instead of developing critical thinking, our ancient knowledge is used as a political tool. This is the reason why no government has focused on education,'' he said.

If the foundation of any country or society is to be built or strengthened, education is the only source,'' he added. The Delhi Government said through its lecture it aims to create awareness amongst the young students about the research methodology, scientific experiments, experiments of social consciousness, especially experiments in the field of education and the predictions for the future of India documented in the 18th-19th century. Sisodia remarked that the school decides the strength of any society or country and the universities determine its successes. ''If society goes astray on any issue, it means that its base, the schooling system, is weak. It is the universities that decide the pinnacle of critical thinking in any society,'' he added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)