India News | 25,000 Attend Delhi Govt's Free Sanskrit Learning Programme
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Around 25,000 people participated in a 10-day free Sanskrit learning programme organised by the Delhi government in collaboration with NGO Samskrita Bharati, officials said on Monday.
New Delhi, May 5 (PTI) Around 25,000 people participated in a 10-day free Sanskrit learning programme organised by the Delhi government in collaboration with NGO Samskrita Bharati, officials said on Monday.
To train such a large group of learners, about 800 teachers were prepared in advance, including PhD scholars from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, trained graduate teachers (TGTs), and college professors, an official said.
Of the total participants, around 16,000 registered online, while the remaining enrolled through offline means, the official added.
“We followed a structured syllabus that enabled even beginners to learn basic conversational Sanskrit, including self-introduction and simple sentence construction within a few days,” the official told PTI.
All 800 instructors underwent training in March and April to prepare for the intensive course.
To support the programme's smooth functioning, around 2,500 volunteers managed seating, water arrangements, and other logistics, he added.
The Sanskrit classes were held from April 23 at 1,008 locations across Delhi, including schools, colleges, and temples. Each session lasted two hours daily and focused on teaching the fundamentals of the language.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta described Sanskrit as a “scientific language” and claimed that the US space agency NASA had acknowledged its significance.
“NASA scientists have written papers recognising Sanskrit's scientific structure. It is considered computer-friendly and even suitable for coding,” she said.
She referred to a paper titled Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence by Rick Briggs, a former researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center. In the paper, Briggs had argued that Sanskrit grammar shares structural similarities with frameworks used in artificial intelligence.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra were also present at the event. PTI SHB
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)