AYURVEDA NETWORK
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
(Under PMMMNMTT Scheme of MHRD, Government of India)
The education and practice of Ayurveda, however, need to be re-energized, renewed and reformed in order to suit the needs of the contemporary world. A centre of medical education which can illuminate the path and guide the progress of Ayurveda, both within and without the national boundaries, is required to take the lead. The Banaras Hindu University has every quality to become that source of light as it has the most prominent place among all of the top Ayurvedic institutions of the country and commands respect all over the world due to the work it has done so far for basic understanding, research and practice of Ayurveda.
Working on Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya’s vision of integration of Ayurveda with contemporary and oriental knowledge, the Banaras Hindu University has guided the Ayurvedic education in the country by producing excellent teachers, doctors and administrators serving most of the centres all over India; writing books on virtually every subject; providing research leads for diseases and drugs; and by provision of healthcare directly to the vast population of Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring States.
But as we grow we face new challenges. We have following issues in Ayurveda that needs urgent attention.
1. Ayurveda is an ancient medical system which has
to be taught by supplementing with contemporary knowledge.
2. Ayurveda is an essentially service-oriented
science. The present curriculum of Ayurveda has failed in translating knowledge
into skills. It needs to be transformed from present theory-based one to
application-oriented one.
3. The science of Ayurveda has evolved through
experiences and observations of thousands of years. This needs to be
demonstrated in actual practice. The present curriculum has failed to address
this problem.
4.
The present curriculum has not given adequate
space to incorporate newer health challenges, drugs, pharmaceutical advances,
and diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.
A huge amount of new information is being
added every day to the existing body of medical knowledge. It requires enormous
effort to convert this information into useful knowledge keeping in view the
sociocultural and economic conditions of a country.
Equally important is to disseminate this
knowledge in a manner that it can be easily accessed, understood and
implemented for teaching, research and healthcare.
In recent past, a lot of work has been
done in the field of Ayurveda by individuals as well as government agencies,
and efforts have been made to organize this knowledge in various forms. AYUSH
research portal, TKDL and DHARA are few such efforts. But these efforts are not
adequate to incorporate all developments made in this field. Therefore, there
is a need to organize so that it can be available to all professionals for
further advancement of Ayurveda.
In this era, when the speed of
information exchange has reduced the earth into a global village; a global
association of academicians who can build the subject content and make
curriculum would be a big step towards building a renewed healthcare system of Ayurveda.
It can be done by involving the academicians and experts working on shared
virtual environment as well as by actual meetings held on specific themes. Therefore,
a Network for Curricular Renewal and Reforms in Ayurveda was set up under
the scheme of
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching
(PMMMNMTT).
BHU’s Experiences
with integrative education and research:
*
Teachers from the Faculty of Medicine teach
Ayurveda UG / PG classes
*
1st MD(Ay)/MS(Ay) program has papers
in Physiology, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology
*
Mutually collaborative research with both the
faculties is a regular feature
*
Faculty members are involved in educational
research such as teaching methods, student attitudes etc.
1.
To develop Ayurveda by integrating the domain
knowledge through data mining, networking, research and sharing for global
advantage.
1.
To strengthen the resource base for the
teachers of Ayurveda.
2.
To build the pool of teachers who engage on the
domain knowledge in Ayurvedic education.
1.
To develop the curriculum to meet the health
needs of country.
2.
To develop e-content and e-resources for
Ayurvedic teachers and professionals.
3.
To develop e-content for integration of
Ayurveda, oriental and contemporary sciences.
4.
To assemble support material in electronic form
for onward use among Ayurvedic professionals.
Academicians/researchers from prestigious
academic institutions, research organizations, industry etc. across the country
will be engaged in the project.
o
Around 30 experts from specific specialties of
Ayurveda have been inducted
o
In each subject, there are experts from main
Ayurveda discipline and also from allied discipline of modern biomedical
stream.
o
There are also experts from relevant
disciplines not covered under 15 subjects such as Statistics
o
Have been shortlisted based on their
contribution to the subject such as research publications, published books,
being conversant with information technology tools etc.
o
A web-based platform is being developed
o
e-content that is relevant for students,
teachers, and professionals of Ayurveda and of related fields of life sciences is
being developed and will be made available soon
* The content is being developed with a
focus on the basic domain knowledge, advanced domain knowledge from an
integrative point of view, and, the prospects for future research in the field
* Practical application of the domain
knowledge will receive maximum emphasis. For instance, the techniques of
administration of Panchakarma, Kshara Sutra etc. will be
demonstrated via suitable media.
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