JNU V-C emphasises on holistic learning, calls it the Indian way of gaining knowledge

Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit has stressed the importance of holistic learning, claiming that it was the Indian way of gaining knowledge.

Addressing an event in New Delhi, the first woman vice-chancellor of JNU said, "We have come from a unique civilisation where our narrative, unlike Abrahamic civilisation, is feminist."

She was speaking at the valedictory session of a two-day seminar – Vishwa Guru Bharat: Exploring the Glorious Past, Promoting Present and the future Roadmap.

The seminar was organised by Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women. It was also attended by Abhishek Tondon, the deputy director of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and Alok Pandey, the national in-charge of the scheme of developing high quality research (SHoDH).

"Holistic nature of knowledge is very important. There you would need a philosophy of knowledge of science and technology and a social construct. Always see knowledge as holistic. This is the way Indian tradition has seen it. I want all of you to connect to that," Pandit said.

"We come from a unique civilisation where our narrative, unlike Abrahamic civilisation, is feminist. We have a concept of 'ardhnarishwar' where women and men are both equal,” he added.

"We have a continuous civilisation. Our tradition was scientific. We are not anti-science. Science technology, scientific temper is part of our tradition," the JNU V-C said.