Saraswati river history to be part of school curriculum in Haryana

The Haryana government will include the history of the mythical Saraswati river in school as well as Kurukshetra University curriculums, officials said on Friday.

Initially, the Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board (HSHDB) constituted an 11-member Saraswati river syllabus committee' led by Dr Pritam Singh, Assistant Director of Centre for Dr. B R Ambedkar Studies at Kurukshetra University (KU), to prepare the curriculum for students of classes 6 to 10.

Later, KU Vice-Chancellor Dr Som Nath Sachdeva constituted another committee headed by Professor A R Chaudhary, Director, Saraswati River Research and Excellence Centre at the university with Dr Pritam Singh as its co-chairman, to prepare the syllabus of the varsity's activity-based courses.

According to official, the idea is to make youngsters aware about the history of the ancient river.

Chaudhary said both the committees are holding meetings on a daily basis to prepare and submit the syllabus for schools as well as university courses by September 15 to the HSHDB, so that it could be included in the curriculum as soon as possible.

Sachdeva said the course will be prepared according to New Education Policy-2020 and highlight the mythological history and literature of Saraswati river under the activity-based education course and an open elective course.

This course will give information to the students about the ancient civilization and heritage of the holy river, he said.

More than two years ago, the Haryana government had approved 11 projects for the rejuvenation of the river.

These included the construction of Somb Saraswati barrage, Saraswati reservoir and Adi Badri dam on Somb river, a tributary of the Yamuna that originates in the Shivalik Hills.