No progress on CM's plan to introduce yoga in syllabus

At the first World Yoga Day on June 21, 2015, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had made the grand announcement of introducing yoga as an optional subject in schools and colleges in Karnataka. A year on, there is no sign of this plan taking off.

The chief minister had even mooted a committee under the Karnataka State Higher Education Council to look into this plan.

The committee was indeed formed, comprising Prof Padma Shekhar, vice-chancellor, Karnataka Samskrit University; Dr G Ramachandra Bhat, vice-chancellor, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, Jigani; Dr Devappa Dominic, a visiting professor of yoga at Bangalore University; Dr Nagesh Bettakote, professor of yoga at BU, yoga expert Ravishanker Krishnamurthy, and Dr K Krishna Sharma, chairman of Human Consciousness and Yogic Sciences department at Mangalore University.

The committee, however, has met only twice since its formation and there is no sight of its report. S A Kori, executive director, KSHEC, told Deccan Herald, “The committee was formed soon after the announcement, but it has not met very often. We sent it a few reminders. The committee is yet to submit its report as of now. I hope it will do so soon.”

Padma Shekhar, who is chairperson of the committee, said he assumed charge recently. A meeting of the committee was called around three months ago where the syllabus, relevance of yoga in schools and various other issues were discussed, he said and added that he would call another meeting soon.

‘Report by this week’
According to him, the composition of the committee remains unchanged. Padma Shekhar said the report on introducing yoga in schools and colleges was ready and would be submitted to the KSHEC by the end of the week.

As many as 10,000 people had taken part in the World Yoga Day event at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru last year. Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty was roped in for the event.
DH News Service