Understanding our Indigenous Knowledge Heritage through NEP 2020

Each community, each society carries within it, a long and poignant narrative about how people observed their world, interpreted their experiences and passed their insights to the next generation. These ways of knowing, through thoughtful observation and understanding of the natural world form what we, today, call knowledge systems. For thousands of years, such systems have grown, interacted and travelled across regions, shaping human progress in quiet but profound ways. India, too, has contributed richly to this universal story. From the precision of Panini’s grammar to the innovations of ancient metallurgists, from classical logic and medicine to tribal ecological wisdom, India’s knowledge traditions are wide-ranging and remarkably diverse.

Understanding this heritage is not an exercise in nostalgia. It is a way of seeing ourselves within the long trajectory of ideas that have shaped humanity. When students learn how earlier generations in their own land reasoned, experimented and created, they develop a sense of intellectual confidence and cultural literacy. This is not about elevating one tradition over another. It is about recognising that knowledge is most meaningful when it is both global and grounded.

It is in this spirit that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 introduces the idea of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS). Spread across several sections, the policy presents a vision of education that values India’s knowledge heritage as part of a broader, inclusive and forward-looking curriculum. What stands out is the breadth of what the NEP considers Indian knowledge: classical scholarship, certainly, but also regional crafts, local technologies, indigenous learning practices, traditional ecological methods and the wisdom preserved in tribal communities. Far from being a narrow category, IKS in the NEP is a wide and interconnected landscape.

The policy makes it clear that this heritage must be explored “in an accurate and scientific manner.” This emphasis matters. It signals that the NEP’s intent is not to romanticise or idealise older traditions, but to study them with openness and rigour. Traditional insights—whether in agriculture, mathematics, architecture or craft—are to be examined in ways that encourage curiosity and critical thinking. This approach does not diminish the value of modern science; it complements it. Many countries today acknowledge that indigenous knowledge can deepen understanding of sustainability, climate resilience and community health. India’s own traditions offer a wealth of such insight, and the policy invites students to engage with them meaningfully.

Some of the attention around NEP 2020 has focused on the sections discussing Sanskrit. These discussions, however, sit alongside references to Tamil, Pali, Persian, Kashmiri and other classical languages. The reason is straightforward: classical languages across India preserve intellectual traditions that shaped entire fields—from logic and mathematics to poetics and political theory. Exploring these traditions helps students appreciate how different cultures reasoned and developed ideas. It also reminds us that India’s knowledge heritage is multilingual and multicultural.

The NEP’s inclusion of local professions and community knowledge further broadens this picture. Artisans, farmers, craftspersons and tribal knowledge-bearers hold generations of experiential understanding about soil, water, materials, medicinal plants, design and sustainability. Recognising this wisdom dignifies the knowledge embodied in everyday practice. It also reinforces the idea that learning does not only come from textbooks or laboratories; it is carried in lived experience and community memory.

A particularly forward-looking aspect of the NEP appears in its approach to agricultural education. The policy encourages universities to teach traditional ecological methods alongside emerging scientific technologies. This balanced approach mirrors global academic trends that integrate local knowledge into environmental research and policy. Here again, the goal is not to replace modern science but to enrich it through context, continuity and deeper ecological awareness.

At its heart, the NEP’s approach to Indian Knowledge Systems seeks to help students develop a relationship with the world around them—its languages, landscapes, histories and communities. It is a vision that values rootedness without restricting openness, and heritage without hindering innovation. By engaging with indigenous knowledge traditions alongside global knowledge, students can cultivate a more holistic and confident understanding of both.

In a time when educational discussions can easily become polarised, the NEP’s treatment of IKS offers a calm and thoughtful way forward. It neither glorifies the past nor rejects it. Instead, it invites us to view knowledge as a continuum: something inherited, examined, questioned and built upon. Understanding India’s knowledge heritage through NEP 2020 is ultimately about strengthening this continuum—so that students grow up informed by history, connected to their local contexts and fully prepared to participate in a global future.

Upasana Bora Sinha,

Nagaland University.