Sanskrit school plagued with problems in BJP ruled state, faces ration shortage for boarders
Ajay Ramola
Mussoorie, The double speak of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government which boasts of being the sole guardians of “Hindu interests” is evident in the indifference and neglect shown towards Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya in Mussoorie.
The neglect shown to the premier Sanskrit language school by BJP, a political wing of the same Hindutva brigade that usurped the power on the plank of preserving the ancient Indian Culture and its languages especially Sanskrit is callous.
The prime example of this indifference and neglect is visible at the Sanskrit Mahavidhyalya at Landour Bazaar Mussoorie that was started 70 years back in 1951 to preserve the glory of Sanskrit. The school is plagued with several problems including the absence of adequate infrastructure and acute shortage of teaching staff.
However, the immediate concern of the school is more startling, as it has only one month ration left for the 22 boarding student who will go hungry if nothing is done immediately.
The semi-government school which runs classes from VI to XIIth has around 40 students who are being imparted education as per the government education department guidelines.
Out of sanctioned seven staff members the school currently has only one permanent staff in form of the principal who receives government salary while two of the teaching staff are imparting their duties on honorarium. The other staff is being provided with the monthly salary by members of the business community under Sanatan Dharm Sabha, Landour Bazaar, Mussoorie.
The managing secretary of the school Vaibhav Tayal disgusted at the lack of support from the state government said, “The members of Sanatan Dharm Sabha have been supporting the Sanskrit school through their own funds since its inception and worked tirelessly to ensure that the school functioned properly during the Covid 19 period, too”.
However, the slide in economic activities due to Covid-19 in the town is making it difficult for the Sanatan Dharm Sabha members to provide funds for the school, he added.
“The students who take admission in the school are from poor strata and cannot afford fees which is Rs 6000 a year and members of the Sanatan Dharm Sabha must chip in with their funds, but this cannot go for long and the government should step in without any delay if it wants to see this historic institution to run without any hindrances,” said Vaibhav Tayal.
- Sayana, principal of the school saddened with the current situation said,” The school used to buzz with activities earlier and had as many as 90 students till ’90s and the donation from philanthropists was an annual feature with no dearth of the funds back then but now things have changed drastically as the number of people who speak of preserving the ancient language has grown but the number of people who actually acts has gone down drastically”.
“The school urgently requires one Yoga, Science, and Music teacher along with the construction of the hall where students can rehearse the Sanskrit plays that are in the curriculum,” added Sayana.
The students said that without the Yoga and music teacher they are unable to practice the ‘shlokas’ and ‘pranic’ activities in the curriculum.
The proposal for the same has been sent to the government but nothing has been done so far said Vaibhav Tayal the secretary of the school management committee.
The State Congress President Jot Singh Bisht lambasted the BJP government and said, “A political party that calls himself as the custodian of Hindu culture and its Hindutva ideology has failed to ensure the preservation of the Sanskrit Language which is the symbol of the glory of the ancient culture of the country is nothing but shameful.”
“Most of the infrastructure work was done during the tenure of former Congress MLA Jot Singh Gunsola from Mussoorie, while the BJP public representatives have paid mere lip service to the cause of Sanskrit language preservation,” added Bisht.
Dr Mahesh Sharma, Linguistic expert and a doctorate rom Nagpur said that Sanskrit means pure or refined and is said to be one of the most systematic languages
Sandeep Narayan,a social activist from Dehradun said that he felt ashamed that the mother of several languages is being meted such treatment in “Devbhoomi” Uttarakhand. He assured to provide help to the school and even said that he would cut his food budget by discarding lunch so that the dry-ration can be arranged for the students at Sanskrit Vidyalaya.
