India's Education:From India to Greece to Rome to Britian to India

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Watch Tower: Educating the Republic

"The Greeks learnt from the ancient Indians and passed their learning

on to the Romans who in turn educated the English and when the

English on their part brought the same learning back to India, with

the then latest modifications-the wheel had turned a full circle."

"Traces of Athenian and Spartan educational systems can be found in

the public and military schools in India, which also have a striking

resemblance to the Gurukul Ashrams of the vedic age."

 

 

The roots of the current education system in vogue in India are

therefore not alien as is assumed widely but of local origin, only

displaced in time, opines Sadhna Sharma

India boasts of the third largest pool of scientific and technical

manpower in the world yet ironically 40% of the Indian citizens

cannot read and write. This anomaly reveals the accomplishments and

inadequacies of the modern national education system. A consequence

of the socio-historical circumstances it was primarily designed to

generate white collared brown babus to meet the ongoing manpower

requirements for governance of colonies by the British colonial

masters and by proxy was inherently advantageous to the urban elite.

Though, in the six decades of political independence constant

experimentation and developmental planning has changed the face of

the education system to a great extent, it is still considered to be

an alien system of education and the attainment of 100% literacy

appears to be a distant goal.

 

LITERACY AND EDUCATION: Literally speaking literacy and education are

spaced apart steps of the same ladder. What begins as literacy at the

lower end ends up as education at the higher side. Literacy in its

basic sense therefore means the ability to read and write whereas

education encompasses at least a University degree.

 

The late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had termed education as a force

which liberates the human soul, whilst literacy is at best an

enabling activity of the mind, useful in meeting ordinary day to day

living requirements.

 

For a developing country like ours, where even the educated, let

alone the illiterate, masses are still hounded by ignorance and

superstition, it is utmost essential to break the shackles of

illiteracy, if the Republic of India wishes to take a walk on the

road of development and prosperity.

 

CURRENT EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA: The Greeks learnt from the ancient

Indians and passed their learning on to the Romans who in turn

educated the English and when the English on their part brought the

same learning back to India, with the then latest modifications-the

wheel had turned a full circle.

 

The roots of the current education system in vogue in India are

therefore not alien as is assumed widely but of local origin, only

displaced in time. The positive way in which the Indian born responds

to English and to computers is a pointer to the truth of the above

hypothesis. Traces of Athenian and Spartan educational systems can be

found in the public and military schools in India, which also have a

striking resemblance to the Gurukul Ashrams of the vedic age.

 

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: The idea of a Republic was first mooted by the

Greek Philosopher Plato around circa 380 BC. Plato developed his idea

around the basic question concerning human morals-Who is a good man

and how is a good man made? With this as bedrock Plato went on to

postulate-What is the good State and how is the good State made? In

his quest to describe and create an ideal State, Plato stressed on

the creation of a sound education system for the Guardians of the

State viz the ruling and soldier class. In fact even Rousseau had to

admit that Plato's "Republic" was not a work of politics but the

finest treatise on Education that has ever been written.

 

PLATO ON EDUCATION: Plato assumed that the State was first of all an

educational institution and education was an attempt by the State to

cure a mental malady by mental medicine. Naturally Plato saw

education as the only way to ensure permanent stability of the

republic . A social process by which the social consciousness in the

society is awakened and it learns to fulfil its socials demands. To

achieve this desired level of social consciousness Plato advocated

the system of common education made compulsory by the state and

divided into basic and higher education categories. The similarity of

the modern Indian educational system with that advocated by Plato

cannot be denied or overlooked. India having borrowed the ideas of a

Republic from Plato should do well to emulate the thoughts of Plato

on education, also, which have stood the test of time as is clear

from their global acceptance and usage.

 

Conclusion

 

Education being the main stay of a Republic's development the first

priority of the state should be to educating the masses. To achieve

this goal some states for example, Madhya Pradesh, have achieved the

target of providing a primary school within one k.m of every home

thus making elementary education accessible to all. Where this is a

creditable achievement in the direction of removing illiteracy a lot

more needs to be done to ensure, the right of a child to some quality

education at the middle school level also. Today, while the higher

education corners most of the resources, the rural and the deprived

community children struggle to master content irrelevant to their

needs and social reality. This coupled with uncreative methods of

teaching and a deficient examination pattern makes them drop out

early from the education system, widening social-cultural

inequalities and sharpening inequities further.

 

A change in the content based on social reality and needs, is

therefore the need of the hour, with the children being given the

right of choosing content from multiple options.

 

India fortunately and thankfully to the British has an elaborate and

elegant educational system in place. What is required is correct

monitoring and follow up of the already well established norms in

totality and in right earnest.

 

The writer is an educationist and social activist

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20051130/3011303.htm