Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Education: Development in India


Education in Ancient India
 In Ancient India, literary education was generally the monopoly of the upper castes, although in some regions like South India low castes also had access to it. Vedic learning was everywhere confined to the Savarnas; and even among Brahmins, only a section had the right to study the Vadas and priesthood. Other castes were debarred form all higher studies by religious verdicts enforced by the Hindu State.
The Brahmins studied in special seminar started for the purpose, such as Tols, Vidyalysis and Chatuspathis. The medium of instruction was Sanskrit. The sacred language of the Hindus, by which only all religious and higher secular knowledge was expressed. For the common people, there were, in every village and town, vernacular schools which taught mainly reading, writing and rudiments of arithmetic. These schools also imparted religious instructions to the pupils. These schools were generally taken advantage of by the sons of traders; women, the lower castes and agriculturists hardly received any education. Thus education among Hindus, in Ancient India, was extremely restricted and for all, except the Brahmins, very poor in content. The Brahmins enjoyed monopoly of all higher education. Although education was the monopoly of upper castes, certain literary professions such as medicine (ayurveda) and astrology were also open to castes other than Brahmins.
The trading castes learnt accounting and book-keeping. While in the courts of kings there were persons who had specialized in the art of writing and the keeping records, in villages there were accountants who maintained land registers and revenue records. Further, this education, as part of the entire culture of Hindu society controlled and administrated by Brahmins was means of training the pupils in accepting the existing caste structure of Hindu society, believing in the infallibility of the Vedas, and of Brahmins, in interpreting these Vedas. It also taught the pupils the virtue of unconditional allegiance to elders, to parents, to teachers and to the king. In fact, education was a means of making the individual accept and conform to hierarchic structure of society and completely subordinating his individuality to it.

Education in British India

The introduction of modern education was an event of great historical significance for India. It was definitely a progressive act of the British rule. Three main agencies were responsible for the spread of modern education in India: the foreign Christian missionaries, the British government and progressive Indians. Christian missionaries, who did extensive work in the sphere of spread of modern education in India, were inspired mainly by a proselytizing spirit to spread Christianity among the people. These missionaries started educational institutions which along with imparting modern secular education also gave religious instructions in Christianity. The British Government was, however, the principal agent in disseminating modern education in India. It established a network of schools and colleges in India which turned out educated Indians well-versed in modern knowledge.

The introduction of modern education in India was primarily motivated by politico-administrative and economic needs of Britain in India. However, they were convinced that the spread of British culture would bring about a social and political unification of the world. The third powerful force spreading modern education in India comprised enlightened Indians. Persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Keshab Chandra Sen, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar, Ranade, Dayanand Saraswati, Ramakrishna Vivekanand, etc. worked towards the establishment of modern education. Modern education had fundamentally different orientation and organization as compared to traditional education. Thus, with the introduction of the Western system of education both the meaning and content of education underwent significant changes.
Modern education was also the medium for spread of modern science and ideas of equality and liberty. It becomes less religious. Besides, many new branches of learning were introduced. The printing press revolutionized the educational system in that the emphasis shifted from personal, oral communication to impersonal communication of idea through books, journals and other media. It brought the sacred scripture within the reach of many castes who had not been allowed by custom to read them. Modern education was gradually thrown by custom to read them. Modern education was gradually thrown open to all castes, religious groups and to women. Education became the basis of exploiting new economic opportunities which were to a large extent caste-free. Education opportunities helped one to acquire the necessary skills outside caste. Occupations thus become a relatively independent element.

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