The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued a complete ban on dissection of animals in undergraduate and postgraduate Zoology and Life Sciences courses in university colleges across India.

The UGC notification issued on July 4 read: “It has been noticed that laws/regulations/guidelines about animals and their welfare are not observed while prescribing animal use in the curriculum in the universities.”

“Considering the seriousness of the issue, the UGC has decided to issue appropriate instructions in the form of this notification to all universities and other higher educational institutions to do away with animal experimentation in Zoology/Life Sciences and allied disciplines at undergraduate and post graduate levels,” the notification read.

UGC had issued a partial ban on dissection in the year 2011 as well but after the continuous intervention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Maneka Gandhi, the Commission has now given its nod for complete ban on the procedure.

According to a press release issued by PETA, the ban is set to save the lives of an estimated 19 million animals every year.

Members of PETA had met with UGC officials on numerous occasions to show them that in nearly every published study on science education, non-animal methods – including computer simulations, interactive CD-ROMs, films, charts and lifelike models – are shown to teach anatomy and complex biological processes often better than archaic animal laboratories. The UGC’s latest action is now in line with the 2012 Ministry of Environment and Forests directive to the Commission and other education bodies to completely stop dissection and experimentation on animals for training both undergraduate and post-graduate students and to use non-animal methods of teaching instead.

“Studies show that exposing students to animal dissection can traumatize them, foster insensitivity toward animals, and even dissuade some from pursuing careers in science,” a press release from PETA read.