T-Schools Should Teach Bhagavad Gita: Minister

Telangana Education Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Friday advocated the participation of all schools in the State in the "Value Empowerment Program", which is based on the religious scripture the Bhagavad Gita.

The minister launched the program designed by VOICE (Vedic Oasis for Inspiration, Culture and Education), the educational wing of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), at his office in the State Secretariat on Friday.

"All schools should actively participate in this program and contribute towards meaningful, value-based education in schools that will enable our children to live a principle-centered life of honesty, compassion and responsibility," said the minister, according to a press release issued by ISKCON.

It may be mentioned that a prominent BJP leader Sushma Swaraj demanded that the Bhagavad Gita be declared as the national book.

The Value Empowerment Programme, launched by the minister on Friday, consists of two components.

The first component is a Bhagavad Gita contest (BGC), which is a written exam that will be administered to students of Class V through XII in their respective schools.

The second component is the Bhagavad Gita Premier League (GPL), an online test on www.gitapl.com that may be taken by anyone.

ISKCON has claimed that it has successfully conducted BGC exams in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar, Nanded and Jalgaon with over 100,000 students participating.

And about two lakh individuals participated in the GPL over the last three years, it added. (INN)