In a recent circular issued by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Bhartiya Shiksha Board (BSB) has been designated as a pan-India School Education Board.
The council stated that BSB, formed in 2019 and approved by department of Higher Education under Ministry of Education, will now be considered equivalent to other national boards in the country.
"Association of Indian Universities (AIU), accords equivalence to school Boards in India. AIU has accorded equivalence for grade 10 and and grade 12 Board examination qualifications of Bhartiya Shiksha Board (BSB) that shall function as a regular school Board within India. You are, therefore requested to consider Bhartiya Shiksha Board as a Pan India School Education Board," read the official notification from AICTE.
According to the official website of BSB, the board was introduced with an aim to re-establish Indian knowledge systems. The website mentions it as a movement against 'Macaulay's toxic legacy', noting that this legacy willfully liquidated our indigenous education and knowledge systems which comprised of the Bhartiya Gyan Parampara and the Gurukul system. "The knowledge system in the country was then substituted with the western culture and slave mindset of a colonised nation."
The board is being headed by Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, the co-founder of yoga guru's FMCG company Patanjali. Other board members of the education board are spiritual leader Morari Bapu, Swami Govind Giri Ji (a senior functionary of the board), Shrinivasa Varakhedi (Upadhyaksha), Dr Nagendra Prasad Singh (the caretaker head), Dr Punam Suri and Giridhar Malaviya Sadasya.