Vidya Bharati


Vidya Bharati is the educational wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It runs one of the largest private network of schools in India, operating 25,000 schools with over 45 million students, as of 2018 and has its registered headquarters in Lucknow with a functional headquarters in Delhi and a sub-office in Kurukshetra. Contributing to the Indic education.

History

RSS, under the tutelage of M. S. Golwalkar established its first Gita school at Kurukshetra in 1946. But, the ban on RSS in 1948 put a damper on the spread of the Gita school model. After the ban was lifted, the first Saraswati Shishu Mandir brand school was established in Gorakhpur in 1952, by Nanaji Deshmukh.
The Saraswati Shishu Mandir model was quickly replicated across several locations and as the number of schools increased, there arose the need of a definite management structure. Accordingly, Shishu Shiksha Prabandak Samiti, was set up to coordinate activities between these schools at the state level. Such committees were set up in Delhi, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
In 1977-78, an all-India apex body, Vidya Bharati was set up to coordinate the activities between these state committees and was headquartered in Delhi. This coincided with the Bharatiya Jan Sangh winning the national elections, as a member of the Janata Party. Incidentally, Vidya Bharati used to have an associated National Academic Council with educationists, which enjoyed the trust of the National Council of Educational Research and Training.

Organisation

By the early 1990s, the network had grown to 5,000 schools and by 2003, to about 14,000 schools with 1.7 million pupils. This expansion was facilitated by the growing demand for education in India and the disaffection with the state school system. As of March 2018, it had 24,396 schools, 45 million students, over 93,000 teachers, 15 teacher training colleges, 12 degree colleges and 7 vocational and training institutions.
Most of the Vidya Bharati schools are affiliated to the Central Board for Secondary Education or their local State Boards. Vidya Bharati-run educational programs were adopted in Madhya Pradesh as an alternate model of education when BJP was in power.
In addition to formal schools, Vidya Bharati also runs sanskar kendras and single-teacher schools for cultural education. It controls over 250 intermediate colleges and about 25 institutions of higher education and training colleges.

Presence

It has schools in remote areas of the north-eastern states as well as states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu where RSS does not have much influence. Particular attention is given to underdeveloped regions and regions inhabited by tribal communities. The chain has over 50 state and regional committees affiliated to it, making it the largest voluntary association in India.

Funding and patronage

Funds for this expansion have been collected through various means, including charities across the world. According to Awaaz, a London-based organisation, a significant portion of the Sewa International earthquake funds for Gujarat have been used to build RSS schools. The network also benefited from favourable allotment of land by Jana Sangh and BJP politicians. It was also helped with miscellaneous patronage by the Bharatiya Janata Party whenever it was in power in the states or in the Centre.
Nanaji Deshmukh believed that the movement had turned 'materialistic', during the later phases but was not paying enough attention to recruiting high-quality teachers. The schools attract the children of urban and small-town shopkeepers and those of professional and government official families.

Ideology and Objectives

, former General Secretary of Vidya Bharati, said that they were fighting an "ideological battle against Macaulay, Marx and Madrasawadis". In comparison to which Vidya Bharati advocates "Indianization, nationalization and spiritualization" of education. In the areas of study that are peripheral to the core curriculum, like physical education, music and cultural education, the institution worked out its own curriculum.

Cultural education

Wherever they are asked to use the standard NCERT textbooks, Vidya Bharati schools supplement them with their own books which emphasize the Hindutva ideology. They blame the `internal disunity' of Hindus for the invasions of Turks, Mongols and Mughals. Christian pastors are described as instruments of colonialism. The Hindu divinities and historical Hindu heroes are listed along with RSS founders Hedgewar and Golwalkar.
In addition to the prescribed curriculum, the Vidya Bharati schools teach five extra subjects: moral education, which includes stories of heroes, songs, honesty, and personal hygiene, physical education, which includes learning to wield a stick, martial arts and yoga, music, Sanskrit and Vedic mathematics. Girls are given kanya bharati sessions where they discuss the real-world problems especially "women-centric" sensitive issues and learn how to deal with them. They are trained to become strong leaders idolizing Queen of Jhansi Lakshmibai, Sarojini Naidu, and other successful women in various fields like Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, Kiran Bedi, etc.
In the morning assembly, the children are taught to sing prayers and songs steeped in religious devotion and the spirit of patriotism. Assemblies and stage performances organized on Hindu festivals also serve to convey the Hindutva ideology. The virtual absence of non-Hindu children in the schools leads to a collective sense of Hindu identity. In the words of a Vidya Bharati commentator "dedication to the motherland with a deep Bharatiya spirit inculcates in the child the will to change his character adjust his nature and programme so as to fulfill the nation's will and necessity."
The schools also use the students as conduits for spreading RSS ideology. The teachers go to students' houses to tell the parents about their children's performance and current activities in the schools. Children are asked to take home pamphlets about RSS and VHP activities to their parents. Promising students and volunteers are sent to RSS summer camps for further ideological training.

Organisational structure

The state-level affiliate committees of Vidya Bharati go by various names, depending on the socio-political situation in each state: