INDIAN EDUCATION POLICY
Ancient Indian thinkers regarded education as an instrument which puts an
ignorant person on the path of an intellectual, progressive, moral and
virtuous course of life. Students in ancient India were required to study
the subjects not only from the point of view of making themselves capable
of handling life, but were also required to study them basically from the
point of view of engaging in research and work towards creating an advanced
body of knowledge in the area. As a result when students reached the status
of learned persons, they were greatly respected and revered. In the ancient
period a pride of place was accorded to education that primarily drew its
inspiration from religion.
2 After the Vedic period, there developed large kingdoms of powerful
kings who wanted to develop an advanced course of life in their society.
They took keen interest in promoting the interests of higher education by
giving rich donations and lands to learned scholars. And more importantly
these kings enacted policies to redefine and reconstruct the education
system in India. The major universities in ancient India Nalanda and Taxila
were known for their scholarship.
3 There was a long struggle between Buddhism and Brahmanism during the
period of 400 BCE to 1000 CE to gain prominence in interpreting the world.
While Buddhism was more people-centric Brahminism tried to reinforce
hierarchies. Quite significantly, Buddhist education was different and not
based on Vedic study and teachers were not Brahmin. The educational
policies of Buddhism were more radical and based on equality and opened up
the doors of knowledge to all castes. The majority of Buddhist Monks lived
in Viharas and they spread in large numbers throughout India. Gradually for
many centuries these Viharas were widely spread throughout India. These
Viharas had become centres for knowledge and higher learning. The most
important Buddhist centre of learning was at Nalanda. Many foreign
travellers like Fa-Hien (399 – 414 A. D.), Hiuen – Tsang (636 - 646 A. D.)
and Tsing (675 A. D.) had not only visited Nalanda University but had also
stayed there in order to acquire a real knowledge of Buddhism. At Nalanda
University students were given facilities such as free education, boarding
and lodging.
4 ‘During the Mughal period the rulers did not make any significant
efforts to universalise the existing educational system, but tried to
spread Islamic education in India’. Any Muslim could acquire education at a
‘Madrasa’ and all higher education was imparted in Arabic by Moulvis.
Muslim educational institutions were distinguished as ‘Maktaba’ – a primary
school often attached to a mosque or run-in private houses and ‘Madrasa’ –
schools for higher learning generally attached to monasteries. The Maktabas
and Madrasas were first confined to Muslims, but later, Hindus and Muslims
had begun to study each other’s languages. This led to the formation of a
new language called ‘Urdu’. Both the Hindu as well as Muslim educational
institutions in pre-British India gave a greater thrust to religion than
other matters .
5 In the ancient period the major objective of education was religion.
There were no significant efforts made to universalise education and
include people from different groups. In particular for many centuries
education continued to be monopolised by a few groups, with ‘caste’ and
‘gender’ determining both access to and utilisation of educational
opportunities.
*6 British Period Mccaulay: *The introduction of western education was an
event of great historical significance for the emergence of an education
policy in India. Before the introduction of modern education, opportunities
for learning were generally confined to a very small portion of the
population. Those from castes and classes placed lower down in the social
hierarchy had hardly any access to education. The pioneering work in the
field of education under the British was done by missionaries. They did
make efforts to spread education but often it was motivated by the desire
for the spread of Christianity among the natives of India. One important
result of the great efforts by missionaries was to stir up governments both
in England and in India to realise that it was their duty to do something
for the education of the people under their rule. The Charter of 1698
clearly stated that it was the duty of English ministers of religion to
give education along with their primary duty of spreading the Gospel. But
the East India Company had realised the political significance of a policy
of religious neutrality and therefore refrained from carrying out the
directions of the Charter of 1698. However, the Company encouraged
educational activity by establishing schools with liberal grants-in-aid.
Thus the St. Mary’s School was established in Madras in 1715, followed by
the establishment of two more charity schools in 1717 by the Danish
missionaries. In 1718 a charity school in Bombay and another in 1731 in
Calcutta were opened. In 1787 two charity schools for boys and girls
separately were established in Madras (Singh 2005). But their curriculum
was mostly limited to the acquisition of the 3R’s (Reading, Writing and
Arithmetic) and Christian teachings. In 1781, Sir Warren Hastings, the
first Governor-General of India, established the Calcutta Madrasa for the
cultivation of Arabic and Persian studies and he also founded the Benares
Sanskrit College in 1791 to promote classical studies in Sanskrit. One of
the prominent motives of establishing these institutions was to train
Indian assistants to English Judges, in order to explain the principles of
Hindu and Muslim laws.
7 The Christian missionaries started providing education to Indian
masses in the beginning of 18th century. But, they were allowed to preach
and teach in India only after the passage of the Charter Act of 1813, which
actually committed the East India Company to allow Christian missionaries
to carry on their educational activities in India. The Company was
initially reluctant to allow the missionaries to carry on their educational
activities because of the resistance that might be put up by Indians who
had an apprehension about proselytization.
8 Hence, the missionaries and their supporters in England began an
agitation with a view to protesting the anti-missionary policy of the East
India Company. Their agitation received considerable support and ultimately
led to the formation of the Charter Act of 1813. The Act laid down the
condition that the British Government shall set apart a total amount of 1
lakh of rupees for the education of Indians. This was the first time in
India that a formal educational policy was put in place for directing the
course of education in the country. As the objectives of the Charter Act of
1813 were not clearly defined, the clause relating to the promotion of the
education of Indians led to differences of opinion between the Classicists
and Anglicists. While the Classicists were keen on promoting education
through Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, the Anglicists wanted that English
education be given. It must be mentioned that in this conflict the
potential of the mother tongue as medium of education was neglected and
even to this day the impact of this move is being felt in Indian education.
9 Indian reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and others felt the need
for a new type of education and were of the view that the introduction of
English education in India would lead the country towards an age of
renaissance. In 1823 the Committee of Public Instruction was set up to give
a shape to the new educational policy of the government and initiate steps
for its implementation. The Committee was guided by two major principles:
a) win the confidence of the educated and influential classes, by
encouraging the learning and literature they respected, b) use the limited
funds that were available for promoting higher education of the upper
classes with the thrust being on appeasement. The Anglicist and Orientalist
controversy had already taken deep roots by the middle of the 19th century.
The Orientalists who had a genuine love for oriental culture wanted that
education must be imparted through the medium of classical languages such
as Sanskrit, Arabic or Persian. On the contrary, the Anglicists opined that
education had to be imparted through the medium of English, since they
believed that modern knowledge, which the Indians desired could be imparted
only through the medium of English. This controversy dragged on till the
end of 1834. In fact, no educational policy could be implemented during
this period. It was at this juncture that Lord T.B. Macaulay came to India
as the President of the Committee of Public Instruction. He was a
pro-Anglicist and supported the education of the classes. He made a
vigorous plea for spreading western education through the medium of English.
10 Macaulay in his Minutes stated that the aim of promoting knowledge of
the sciences could only be accomplished by the adoption of English as the
medium of instruction. He brushed aside the claims of the mother-tongue on
the ground that Indian languages were not equipped to serve as media of
this knowledge transmission. He rejected the claims of Arabic and Sanskrit
as against English. Macaulay’s unjust criticism of classical Indian
languages was primarily rooted in his ignorance of the richness of these
languages and attracted wide spread resentment among not only admirers but
also those who were aware of the strength of these languages. However,
Macaulay believed that English education would have a positive effect on
the Indian minds and advocated its implementation strongly. Macaulay’s
arguments in favour of English language were as follows:
· English is a modern language and is more useful than Arabic or Sanskrit.
· Among the languages of the west, English occupies a pre-dominant
position. In India it is the language of the ruling classes. Further, the
chances of its’ becoming the language of commerce through the seas of east
are very bright.
· Just as Greek or Latin brought about renaissance in Europe, English would
do the same in India.
· The native Indians are willing to be taught in English and are not eager
to learn Sanskrit or Arabic.
· It is possible to make the natives of India good scholars in English.
It is possible through English education to bring about “a class of persons
Indian in blood and colour but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and
intellect”, and English education would result in a filter down effect by
separating the classes from the masses. In 1835 the minutes were endorsed
by Lord William Bentinck, the then Governor General. The result of this
action was that in future teaching in high-schools and colleges under
government control would be in English. This momentous decision has had its
effect on educational policy in India right down to the present time. The
rulers of those days had foreseen that the introduction of western
education would bring Indians into closer contact with western ideas of
government and democracy and lead to the rise of Indian nationalism.
11 The Charter of the East India Company had to be renewed every 20
years. Accordingly, while renewing the Charter in 1833 the British
Parliament increased the total amount of money from one lakh (1813) to one
million yearly for promoting the cause of education in India. Since India
had numerous educational problems and it was realised at the time of
renewal of the Charter in 1853, it was decided to formulate a clear
education policy that would set a framework for creating a well laid out
education system in India. Therefore, a committee was set up to offer
suggestions for introduction of educational reforms in India under the
chairmanship of Charles Wood. The document which this committee prepared is
popularly known as the Woods Education Despatch. It had far reaching
implications for the development of an educational system in the country
(Singh 2005). The Woods Despatch is a long document of 100 paragraphs,
which deals with various aspects of educational reforms in India. It is
also described as the ‘Magna Carta of English Education in India’. It set
forth a scheme of education far wider and more comprehensive than any one
which had been suggested so far. It enunciated the aim of education in
India as the diffusion of arts, science, philosophy and literature of
Europe. It laid down that the study of Indian languages was to be
encouraged and that the English language should be taught where there was a
demand for it. Thus, English and Indian languages were to be used for the
diffusion of European knowledge. The most significant aspect of the Woods
Dispatch was the decision to establish universities in India. The first
university of modern India was established in Calcutta in 1857. Soon
universities were also established in Bombay and Madras. The Sargent
Commission was set up in 1944 under the chairmanship of Sir John Sargent to
prepare a comprehensive report on the system of education in India. Its
report was called the ‘Sargent Scheme’ or ‘Report of the Sargent Commission
on Post-War Education Development in India’. It was submitted to the
British – run Government of India in 1944. This report paved the way for
the future development of an educational system in the country. The British
government was the main agency for deciding the course that the education
system in India took in the pre-independence period. It helped to
establish, throughout the country, a number of schools and colleges which
turned out tens and thousands of educated Indians well versed in modern
subjects. Though the main purpose was to produce clerks for their
administrative machinery, the fact remains that the British, by spreading
modern education in India (liberal and technical) played a progressive role.
12 A new chapter in education policy began with India becoming
independent. A number of problems and challenges had surfaced in the
country because of the sheer diverse character of Indian society. The
Government established education commissions in order to address these
challenges and recommend comprehensive policies for educational problems
and also for the improvement of the education system in India. The first
Commission to be appointed in independent India was the University
Education Commission of 1948, under the chairmanship of Dr. S.
Radhakrishnan, to report on the status of Indian university education and
suggest improvements and extensions that would be desirable to suit the
present and future requirements of the country. The Secondary Education
Commission was set up under the chairmanship of Dr. A. Lakshmanaswami
Mudaliar in 1952. The Commission submitted its report to the Government in
1953. The report gave a broader view about the educational problems of
Indians and proposed to increase efficiency of production. The report of
the Commission suggested diversification of high school courses and the
establishment of multipurpose high schools. Another proposal was that of
introducing a uniform pattern throughout India. Further, it also
recommended the setting up of technical schools. The Mudaliar Commission
was followed by the appointment of the Indian Education Commission under
the chairmanship of D. S. Kothari. Popularly known as the Kothari
Commission, it was entrusted with the task of dealing with all aspects and
sectors of education and to advise the Government on the evolution of a
National System of Education. It is in accordance with the recommendations
of this Commission that the National Educational Policy of 1968 was
formulated. The National Policy on Education 1968 was widely criticised for
its promotion of the ‘three language formula’. The general feeling was that
the third language was thrust upon the students even though they were not
interested. The Government of India initiated the National Policy on
Education in 1986. Its major objective was to provide education to all
sections of society, with a particular focus on scheduled castes, scheduled
tribes, other backward classes and women, who were deprived of educational
opportunities for centuries. In order to fulfil these objectives, the
National Policy on Education (1986) stressed on the provision of
fellowships for the poor, imparting adult education, recruiting teachers
from oppressed groups and also developing new schools and colleges. The
National Policy on Education – 1992 stressed on promotion of development
and strengthening national integration. Availability of infrastructure is
fundamental in providing access to education. Under the SSA scheme between
2002-03 and 2008-09 1,48,492 new primary schools and 1,33,277 new upper
primary schools were opened and an additional 8,00,000 classrooms were
built, significantly expanding access to the elementary level. Right to
Education Act or The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
emphasises the importance of free and compulsory education for children who
are in the age group of 6 to 14 years. Education policy has played an
immensely important role in the development of an educational system in
India since pre-independence days. Since education policies reflect the
approaches of those in power towards education, they have a close bearing
on the goals and strategies of the education system that is in existence at
that point of time. From courses to curriculum to pedagogical practices,
education policy sets the framework within which an educational system
takes shape. In India the thrust of educational policies has been changing
from time-to-time in response to the emerging socio economic needs of the
country.
13 No policy has been able to put in place a common system of education
or a commonly accepted quality assessment mechanism. It is a challenge for
future education policies to address this issue. And how a system of Aranya
can be implemented and the value of education can be altered, is a giant
step to even dream about. Finer inner core thinking to protect nature, but
education in the modern era is more important than the preservation of
nature. Hence, I say it is the duty of each individual to protect and not a
policy matter, where the criss-cross sections are vying with one another on
Jai ram and Jai Siya Ram. {Extracted from national reports and researched
articles}
KR IRS 41222
On Sun, 4 Dec 2022 at 07:23, Markendeya Yeddanapudi <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> --
> *Mar*As a Limb of Nature (Symbiotic Economics Chapter 1)
>
>
>
> You are a limb of nature. You are part of nature’s anatomy. As it is, when
> you look at your visible body, which you mistake as the total you, you find
> your limbs which are useful and which are needed for specific functions.
> Similarly nature needs you as limb for a specific purpose of nature.You use
> your limbs when you find a need for it. Similarly nature will use you for
> its needs. The limbs of nature do not Darwin each other.
>
> Every limb of yours in the visible spectrum is important.Because, the skin
> covering it has pores, which inhale and exhale smell messages and your
> responses connecting every other limb and effecting the internal hormonal
> communication. You are not an economic man, but a limb of nature connected
> hormonally and emotionally, with a macro identity. An active limb of your
> body in the visible spectrum, automatically contributes to your health,
> strength and functioning purposefully by living. Your inhalation and
> exhalation makes nature also strong and healthy.
>
> Every limb needs other happy limbs, and no limb is unimportant. To nature
> every organism as a limb is important. When you go into thick, free, lush
> and happy nature, your inhalation becomes inspiration, and you inspire
> every other organism to participate in the living of Gaia. At the emotional
> level of feeling, nature informs you of your specific duty in nature as its
> limb and you feel inspired and feel rapture by feeling your complementation
> of nature’s purpose. We call it revelation from nature. And you make nature
> healthy and strong and nature makes you healthy and strong.
>
> In Symbiotic Economics, we first discover the needs of healthy nature and
> our/your synchronization of our/your life to complement with the needs of
> nature. Every organism is a physical and emotional complement of every
> other organism. Love is the main component of the air.
>
> To know one’s role as a limb of nature, one must go into free nature and
> inhale and exhale. One may not be mentally aware, but one begins living as
> a limb of nature complementing living nature. One needs a blank mind as
> thoughts block feeling. Rapture as concentration takes over.One
> participates in the coordination of lives of all organisms of the Biosphere
> feeling rapture. Rapture and concentration become one. The entire strength
> of nature becomes your strength.
>
> Today we lost those natural faculties which once were casual and
> automatic. Now they are called the supernatural powers. In Symbiotic
> Economics we strive to bring back those powers of your body as a limb of
> nature, which we today call supernatural powers.
>
> It is for every University to start parks where nature is totally free, so
> that nature makes you the macro person.
>
> YM
>
>
>
>
>
--
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