Education in India: Learning from the Past

Education in India has a very ancient beginning; it has always been somewhat connected with spirituality and with abstraction in its broadest sense. Modern educational challenges are yet to be met, and they are yet to show what values can be borrowed from the past to better fit the general needs of the future. This blog aims to establish an understanding of the state of education in India, the learnings from past practices, and future courses.

1. Daily orbits and annual revolutions: Education in Ancient India

Education that was practiced in early India was more of an all-around development where the student not only received knowledge but also virtues. Universities, such as Takshashila and Nalanda, were international universities, and scholars from all over the world visited them. These concerns included science, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, logic, and art and literature.

Key Takeaways:

• Holistic Approach: It was not only an academic lesson but encompassed the teaching and learning of social facts of life, ethics, and moral values.
• Teacher-Student Relationship: The system of learning also involved one-to-one education in probably the most famous tradition known as the guru-shishya system.

2. The Mediaeval Period: The Forces of Invaders

The impact of the invaders led to the growth of economic interdependence between countries, and trade relations stimulated by this invasion paved the way for the development of nationalism.

The Middle Ages witnessed sharper transformations in the Indian education system. With the arrival of Muslim rulers, a new kind of educational institution came into existence, which was called a madrassa, where education was provided by Islam along with science and mathematics. However, this period was marked by the deterioration of Indigenous teaching and learning practices as they shifted more to a religious teaching style and rote learning.

Key Takeaways:

• Diverse Influences: India then introduced multiculturalism, which heaped richness in the framework of education, but at the same time, it also became some degree of specialisation.
• Preservation of Knowledge: However, the mission was not abandoned by numerous scholars who endeavoured to contribute to the saving of great cultural wisdom and documentation.

3. Colonial Era: The Introduction of Western Education 

Education in pre-independent India was formally initiated by the British through the Education Code of 1835, bringing in a system of English education with an emphasis on Western sciences. Delhi University and Bombay University are some of the examples that are considered the pioneers of modern higher education in India. But alongside this came the decline of traditional Indian systems of education and learning.

Key Takeaways:

• Standardisation: While the concepts of the modern education system in India are due to the British, the credit for bringing standardisation to the curriculum goes to them.
• Critique: Another in which it was frequently accused of and/or being close to a Macaulayian system, primarily designed to produce an ‘Indian in blood and colour, but in tastes, opinions, morals, and intellect, an Englishman’.

4. Post-Independence: Educational Inequity: A Search for the Right System

India’s problems after independence were monumental, and one of them was to shape education for children geared towards parity. Various policies, such as the National Policy on Education of 1968, 1986, and 2020, were formulated by the government given universalising education and the technical and scientific revolution.

Key Takeaways:

• Inclusive Policies: Steps were taken to try and reduce the gap between facility education and country education, particularly with concern for gender and accessibility.
• Modernisation: The new subjects and teaching concepts that were introduced in our system’s aimed at trying to peg itself with the current educational market trends.

5. Some Current Issues and Prospects

Presently, Indian education is at a crossroads. But as we have also seen, there are still hurdles such as rote learning, focusing solely on exams, and minimal creativity. The NEP 2020 is a positive move in the right direction, focused on multidisciplinary and alternative vocational training as well as the incorporation of information and communication technology in learning.

Key Takeaways:

• Blending Tradition with Modernity: This means that there is a need to blend what was entailed in the traditional education system with what is encompassed in the modern world education system.
• Focus on Skills: By giving necessary importance to skills, thinking skills, and creativity, students will be ready to face the future job market.

Conclusion: Education in the Past to Enable a Better Future

The educational journey of Indian people could be considered evidence of the Indian nation’s ability to progress. A good example to follow in future health delivery systems is therefore to build upon what our early ancestors did right and to correct for what our contemporary systems may lack. In this way, we can build an education system that is anchored in our culture and, at the same time, effective for the generation of the twenty-first century.