Brahma Kumaris Out of Schools

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Brahma Kumaris Out of Schools

Post03 Nov 2010

No Brahma Kumaris, Human Resource Development Ministery wants Ramakrishna Mission

The end to a tie-up between the Brahma Kumari organisation and Kendriya Vidyalayas for value education lessons after an Indian Express report on the issue (also here). The Human Resource Development Ministry is set to evolve a full-fledged Value Education curriculum for schools by itself and a Rs 100-crore plan is a partnership with the Ramakrishna Paramhansa foundation to develop Value Education content for schools has received 'in-principle approval', sources said.

Meanwhile, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have sought a response from the Kendriya Vidyalya Sangathan over their tie-up with the Brahma Kumaris to impart weekly lessons in Value Education. He has directed the Kendriya Vidyalyas to put a stop to any further association with the organisation pending the new Value Education format being prepared by the Ministry.

The Central government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which presides over a chain of thousand-plus schools, had previously directing all its schools to allow the nearest Brahma Kumari Academy to hold a weekly class on "Peace Education". In a letter to all its regional offices, the KVS told each school that it must contact the nearest Brahma Kumari Academy so that “representatives can take one period in a week in classes VII, VIII & IX in KVs free of cost” following which the Brahma Kumaris had lost no time in contacting the nearest KVs.

The Brahma Kumari organisation had described itself as a "socio-spiritual and educational institution" and it was claimed the program was not religious.

Brahma Kumari Karuna Shetty, the public relations officer for the BKWSU who was directly involved in legal action aimed at shutting down this website, also claimed that, "Brahma Kumari is not a religion, we are for the secular and call ourselves a spiritual organisation teaching values".

Critics stated that arrangement authorising Brahma Kumaris to teach moral values in Government schools was contrary to the secularism as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The Brahma Kumaris, an offshoot and a part of Hinduism have been classified as a spiritualist End of the World cult involved in the mediumship of spirits.

Kapil Sibal (born August 8, 1948) is a prominent Indian politician and former lawyer who held the two ministries, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences, in the first Manmohan Singh Cabinet. He was educated at Universities of Delhi and Harvard Law Schools.

Indian Express estimate the Brahma Kumaris property holdings to be in the region of "100s of crores (one crore equals 10,000,000)" Rupees or 10s of millions of dollars (100 crore rupees equals $22.5 m USD). It notes allegations that widows and unmarried women have been pressurised into donating their property by the BKWSU and that questions exist over where their funds come from.

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