The Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre is planning to set up a school board for Vedic Education, The Indian Express reported. According to officials who spoke to the English daily, the examination board will be set up under the Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, a Vedic education organisation that operates out of Ujjain. The proposed Vedic education board will function much like the Central Board of Secondary Education, the report added.

The plan to set up the board purportedly came about at a meeting in Bengaluru on January 17, where Sanskrit experts and representatives from traditional Hindu educational institutions were present. The meeting was chaired by Swami Govindadeva Giri and Chamu Krishna Shastry, advisor (languages) to Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani also attended it.

“Ved Vidya” is practised at various gurukuls and ved pathshalas across the country. The government’s proposal will bring these under the ambit of a Central board, which could eventually cater to around 50,000 students, the report claims.

The government had not taken as readily to a proposal by yoga guru Baba Ramdev last year to establish a Vaidik Educational Board to oversee educational institutions that he planned to set up around the country.