Decolonization of Indian Indigenous Technological Knowledge Systems Education: Linking Past to Present

Abstract

Throughout human history, mankind has harnessed knowledge and experience for ease and improvement. People have sought to leverage abstract concepts of various sciences, including mathematics. Technology is the practical application of sciences, and both are intrinsically intertwined. Like many other prominent civilizations, the Indic civilization also witnessed the application of sciences in the form of indigenous technology. Centuries of colonization has resulted in restricted awareness about India’s indigenous science and technology education systems, both within and outside India. The educational policy implemented by the colonizers was inherently biased against the native traditions and knowledge. As a result of the socio-economic and political realities of that period, Indian Education did not mainstream Indian indigenous technical knowledge systems. As a result, the latent potential of the traditional technical knowledge systems remains untapped. After independence, the Indian educational framework excluded traditional indigenous knowledge systems. As a result, their continuity and evolution through required pedagogy and integrated curriculum were not prioritized. The National Mission for Manuscripts (NAMAMI), set up in 2003, has listed 3.5 million manuscripts out of the estimated 40 million in India. Two-thirds of these are in Sanskrit and 95% are yet to be translated (Chauhan, 2018). As a result, India is still at the tip of its ancient knowledge iceberg for a large part of ancient literature was in Sanskrit. India needs a strategic plan with focused interventions to establish science and technology as a continuation of the legacy of the past, instead of an import from the West. The establishment of The Indian Traditional Knowledge Systems Division in the Ministry of Education at All India Council for Technical Education in October 2020 is a welcome step in this direction (Indian Knowledge Systems, n.d.).