Video of College Teaching Sanskrit in Kerala Shared With a False Communal Claim

This clip is from a college in Thrissur and Sanskrit is taught to develop a deeper understanding of other religions.

A video from Kerala, which shows a teacher teaching Sanskrit to Muslim students, is being shared on social media. 

What is the claim?: Users have claimed that Muslim teachers are training a section of Muslims to learn Sanskrit to "attain temple priest positions in Kerala".

This post recorded 51.8K views at the time of writing this story.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is it true?: The claim is misleading.

• The video is from the Academy of Sharia and Advanced Studies (ASAS) in Thrissur, Kerala. They included Sanskrit to develop an understanding of other religions among students. 

How did we find out?: We divided the viral video into keyframes and found a video on YouTube uploaded by a Malayalam-language news channel, The Fourth, on 1 November 2022. 

• The Fourth's video was uploaded with the caption that read, "Sanskrit has been included in the syllabus of the Academy of Sharia and Advanced Studies (ASAS) in Thrissur Sakthannagar under Samasta." (translated from Malayalam to English) 

• We matched the visuals of the viral video with the YouTube video and found similarities. 

Academy of Sharia and Advanced Studies's Response: We reached out to the principal of the college, Onampilly Muhammed Faisy who dismissed the claim and called it a "fake argument."

• He said that their students learn Sanskrit as it is one of the traditional languages, and it will help them master their mother tongue, Malayalam.

• The principal added that the teachers in charge are not Muslim. The teachers are Hindu teachers named Ramesh and Yatheendran.

On their official website, ASAS's magazine section had an article dated 20 February explaining the reasons for including Sanskrit in the syllabus. 

• It mentioned that teaching Sanskrit, Upanishads and Puranas aimed to help students understand other religions. Faizy, the principal of ASAS, believed in teaching selected portions of the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Mahabharata, and Ramayana in Sanskrit over eight years after Class 10

• The Economic Times also reported on 16 January about the college's idea to include Sanskrit in their curriculum. 

Conclusion: The viral video is being shared to create a false communal narrative. The video is from Thrissur's ASAS college, where Sanskrit has been included to provide students with a holistic understanding of all religions and cultures.

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