Chennai: One of the oldest serving educational institution in the cause of Sanskrit in India—the Madras Sanskrit College, Mylapore, here, launched its digital platform to teach Sanskrit online.
Launching the digital campus of the 111-year-old Madras Sanskrit College on Tuesday evening, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called for concerted efforts to recapture the glory of Sanskrit. This ancient language, she said is a tool to keep one mentally agile. “The Vedic Mathematics, for instance can help improve the problem solving ability of the students. The slokhas have the ability to make one perform better,” she said.
Recollecting her overseas visits to Croatia and Philippines, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman said Sanskrit words were freely used in Croatian and Filipino and this only proved the flexibility of the language and pragmatic application. Advocating everyone to patronise Sanskrit, she said learning the language makes one multilingual and more articulate. Sanskrit scored far ahead of other languages because it is very structured, the Minister added.
Online course is certified by MSC: The online course which is part of the digital campus is certified by the Madras Sanskrit College and can be followed up with an exam for a certificate from the Madras University. The MSC will be collaborating with other institutions and individuals who can create and disseminate content through the digital campus. The objective of launching the digital campus is to bring together an online community of Sanskrit lovers globally. This initiative is an effort by the college and will make an impact on the digital world and continue to be relevant and a source of scholarship in Sanskrit and Indian culture for the next century, says Ramesh Mahalingam, trustee, MSC.
Speaking on the occasion, N. Gopalaswami, president, MSC, said about five lakh Sanskrit manuscripts have been digitalised.
The college said it had partnered with 'Classle' a digital learning solution provider, to make Sanskrit available for all through its digital platform.
The Digital platform would act as a center of excellence for Sanskrit from beginners to scholars all around the globe. The online course for beginners covers 30 lessons and spans 16 week. Other courses like diplomas, Mimamsa, Jyotisha, etc., will be introduced gradually.
