Tirupati: National Sanskrit University to offer online courses

Tirupati: The National Sanskrit University (formerly Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha) in Tirupati has been in the forefront of turning Covid-19 challenges into opportunities by designing various online courses during this pandemic.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof V Muralidhara Sharma told the media in Tirupati on Saturday that about 18 certificate and diploma courses will commence from June 1 for which the date of registration ends on May 31. However, he assured that they will consider the applications up to 3-4 days after the deadline.

It may be noted that the university has conducted free introductory Sanskrit and yoga online classes from April 5 to May 17 for which more than 2,000 have enrolled and participated. These free online classes have witnessed even participants from other countries. On the successful completion of this introductory course, the participants responded positively and requested the university to continue conducting online courses so that many interested persons will be enlightened in traditional Sanskrit lore.

The Vice-Chancellor has said that the online certificate programmes will be taught by experienced faculty using simple online and innovative modern teaching methods. Learning material in the form of PPTs and e-content will be provided free of cost. The courses include Functional Sanskrit (Basic and Advanced), Dvaita certificate, Dviata diploma, Raghuvamsa, Hindi creative writing, certificate programme in yoga, Jyothisha, Viveka Chudamani and others.

The duration of each course varies from one month to six months while the fee will be between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 depending on the course. For foreigners it would be $40-50. Prof Sharma added that as the institute became a national university, now they are at liberty to start new centres and courses. It was decided that the examinations this time will be held online and next academic year will commence from September.