Future of maths at stake: Teachers seek withdrawal of draft syllabus

The draft, published by UGC for BA and BSc maths, adds concepts like Vedic mathematics, Bharatiya Bijaganit, the Puranas and ideas of ancient Indian astronomy

Mumbai: Over 900 mathematicians, researchers and academics from India and abroad have petitioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw its proposed curriculum for undergraduate mathematics.

The petitioners assert basic subjects such as real analysis, linear algebra and modern algebra have been relegated or packed into insufficient time.

The draft, published in August by UGC for BA and BSc mathematics in alignment with the National Education Policy 2020, adds concepts like Vedic mathematics, Bharatiya Bijaganit, the Puranas and ideas of ancient Indian astronomy. Students should be taught the Narada Purana’s citations of geometry, muhurtas in rituals calculated using the panchanga, and ancient Indian time units compared with the contemporary systems such as Greenwich Mean Time. The draft also proposes that students be taught the history and evolution of Indian algebra as well as application of old formulas like Paravartya Yojayet Sutra for polynomial division.

On Thursday, the petition, signed by some of India’s leading mathematicians, including 20 Padma awardees and recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, was sent to the UGC chairperson Vineet Joshi. It highlights the key problems with the draft curriculum and makes a single recommendation: the draft curriculum be redrawn and redrafted by a committee drawn from experts in mathematics research and education. “The future of mathematics and indeed all scientific endeavour in the country is at stake,” it states.

The 900 signatories from institutions like the Chennai Mathematical Institute, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, IIT Bombay, Ashoka University, Shiv Nadar University, IISER Kolkata and Indian Statistical Institute to cite but a few institutions, claim the draft has some fundamental flaws that can hurt the future of mathematics learning and dilute the quality of research and industry across the country.

The petitioners assert basic subjects such as real analysis, linear algebra and modern algebra have been relegated or packed into insufficient time. They caution that vital applied subjects such as programming, numerical methods and statistics are absent from the core or provided superficially without hands-on training.

The researchers further indicate that most of the elective courses require students to understand topics that they would not have covered in the fundamental courses. They give instances such as Mathematics in Music, which mentions Fourier analysis and Markov chains but insists on requiring high school level education only. Likewise, Mathematics in Meditation classes, they contend, has no place in a serious undergraduate program.

“Applied mathematics is short-changed; programming and numerical methods are outside the core. Statistics is stuffed into one course. In courses on statistics, machine learning, artificial intelligence etc. it is natural and customary to have a practical and application-based component; this opportunity has been squandered,” the petition states objecting to the meagre 15 hours of class time allocated to these.

The also petition objects to the provision of outdated subjects such as Analytical Geometry and Mechanics as colonial legacies that have not yet faded away. The scholars allege that this renders future Graduates incapable of pursuing higher studies or employment in technology and industry.

They further cite references listed in the curriculum that do not exist at all. Books quoted under courses such as Mathematics in Physics and Mathematics in Meditation cannot be located, the petitioners assert.

In their statement, the petitioners who include the likes of MS Raghunathan, Shrikrishna Dani and Eknath Ghate, further emphasize that India currently has a rich resource of highly qualified mathematicians and educators who could contribute to developing a contemporary and relevant curriculum. They believe that drawing on this capability would enable the UGC to achieve a balance between India’s mathematical traditions and today’s students’ needs.

“A nation with such a rich heritage of performing well in mathematics should have a curriculum that equips its students to meet the demands of the contemporary world,” states the petition. They have appealed to the UGC to scrap the existing draft and constitute a new committee consisting of eminently qualified mathematicians and teachers to create a more practical and balanced syllabus.

UGC chairperson Vineet Joshi was unavailable for comment.