EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN INDIA

The importance of education cannot be neglected by any nation. In today’s world,
the role of education has become very vital, as it is an absolute necessity for the
economic and social development of any nation.
Education is the process wherein society deliberately transfers its accumulated
knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another and is about grooming
up the mind, character and physical ability of an individual and instilling him with
knowledge, skills and values to bring forth potential to lead.
Education in Ancient India
India has a long history of organized education. The Gurukul (traditional residential
schools of learning) system of education was one of the oldest but before that, the
guru shishya system was prevalent, in which students were taught orally and the
data would be passed from one generation to the next. However, the advent of
Buddhism and Jainism brought fundamental changes in access to education. The
first few centuries saw the flourishing of higher education at Nalanda, Takshashila,
Ujjain, and Vikramshila Universities. Art, Architecture, Arthashastra (Economics
& Politics), Astronomy, Buddhism, Hinduism, Grammar, Law, Literature, Logic,
Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy, and Painting were among the subjects
taught and each university specialized in a particular field of study. Takshashila
specialized in the study of medicine, while Ujjain laid emphasis on astronomy.
Nalanda, being the biggest centre, handled all branches of knowledge. The outcome
of the system was that Ancient India was one of the foremost civilizations with its
craft in demand far and wide. Its Architecture, Legal, Political and Socio-cultural
system was revered in other civilizations like Mesopotamia, Chinese and Egyptian
Civilizations.
The village patashalas were often housed in shabby dwellings and most writings
by the teacher as well as students were done on palm leaf, plantain leaf, or on the
sand. There was no fixed class routine, timetable, calendar or examination and
the pupils were promoted whenever the guru was satisfied with their attainments.
The system has failed to deliver in identifying natural aptitude of the student
and honing their skills and intellect, despite the strong relationship between the
teacher and the students.
Invasions disrupted the educational system. By the time Mughals invaded and
took over India, the education system had declined substantially from its past
glory.

The University system re-generated only when the British restarted the system
of Education, which is prevalent in the modern Education system. Even though
India’s Ancient Education system of Guru-Shishya Parampara has declined, it
can still be seen in the practice in several sectors like Spiritual Education, Yoga,
Physical-Mental training and Relaxation, Traditional Songs, Music and Dance
learning. We also have the system in various professions like say Mechanic, Tailor,
Sculptor etc wherein youngsters are recruited and trained for these life skills.
The poor in rural, as well as urban areas, prefer their children to be trained by
these systems over the formal education system primarily because of the costs of
education but also because they see little value in the formal system to be able to
impart life or earning skills.
Education in British India
Indigenous education was still widespread in the 18th century, with a school for
every temple, mosque or village in most regions of the country. The subjects taught
included Arithmetic, Astronomy, Ethics, Law, Metaphysics, Medical Science,
Religion and Theology. The schools were attended by students that represented
all classes of society. When The Royal British Government, which found its roots
through The East India Company, took governance of India, it de-recognized the
old system and stopped incentives for the Indian Universities and the students.
The newer era of higher education started with the British initiative in the 19th
century. Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay (1835), through the Macaulay minutes,
stressed upon the closure of institutions of oriental learning; and then a few schools/
colleges at different places were established by the British regime giving stress on
classroom teaching with a focus on Mathematics and Science. However, despite
focused classroom teaching, the teacher-student bonding has been not so strong
and not everyone got benefitted. Calcutta, Bombay and Madras Universities were
established in the year 1857. Some of the renowned Educational institutes like St.
Xavier’s College, Sydenham College, Wilson College and Elphinstone College have
been established by the British in India.
In 1882 the first Indian Education Commission under the chairmanship of
WW Hunter was established. The report dealt with indigenous education,
primary education, secondary education and university education. In 1913, the
Education Policy was developed by the then British Government, which proposed
the establishment of new universities within each province. Accordingly, the
Central Hindu College was converted to Banaras Hindu University in 1916 and
Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College into Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.
Universities were also started in Mysore, Hyderabad and Patna. India’s first medical

College came up in Calicut in 1942-43. This was in response to a
shortage of doctors during the Second World War for the British Soldiers.
Although in theory, the British Education system was liberal, allowed for equal
opportunities to everyone armed with a Degree and skills in the English language.
However, in practice the way they applied the policy, the elitist tendencies were
reinforced. Firstly, the Education system or Higher Education required a stay in
hostels as prominent colleges were available in only a few cities. Besides, there
were a host of other expenses like tutorials, books, etc. which the poor couldn’t
afford. The British were also keen to preserve the position of the privileged to
enlist their support for the British rule and thus did little to upset them. The elite
then helped British fasten their grip on India. Also, the system relied on imported
books, text and tutors. These had no relevance to local situations in India and
failed to provide any ready reference point for the students. Secondly, the system
put special emphasis on examination (especially written examination) as a tool to
judge the merit of the student. Thirdly, the system offered little choice to students in
terms of selection of subjects of their attitude. Lastly, the score in the examination
was almost the sole criterion for selection of a candidate for the job (along with
knowledge of English). Thus, it started the great Indian race to cram subjects to
score well during the examination. The interest and aptitude of the students stifled
in the system. Also, the British administrative system was still developing during
that period. So little information was available to teachers to impart knowledge
and share information about the opportunity structure or merits or demerits of
the policy and procedures. Thus students generally lacked information on how to
approach the subject to pursue their goals or to enhance their skills further. There
is little evidence of indigenous research facilities as British were keen to push their
industrial wares in India and thus were more interested to stifle Indian innovation
rather than promoting it. Due to the lack of schools, teachers, resources and
knowledge, the system did not work out well.
Post Independence, the Indian Government started taking decisions. However,
our administrators kept the decision making process mostly under wraps, away
from the public gaze. Students who pass the examination have little idea over the
direction that they should adopt to reach their goals. From the British period,
students went abroad (generally to the UK, which was the centre of the World,
then) to acquire higher Education since that provided them with a greater sense
of liberation by helping them to see ready reference points and policy-making in
action. Glimpses of this Education bias can be seen in India’s Freedom struggle
itself where those educated in Britain got more prominence while those educated
in India were just small blips in the history of our freedom struggle. The bias in

favour of foreign education continues till date even as Young India cries for sweeping
reforms to overhaul the Education system. However, the British Education system
did help inculcate a sense of Rule of Law, Equality before Law, Freedom of Speech,
Freedom to pursue one’s religion and belief system, etc. among Indians. The thriving
Electoral Democracy, Free Press, Independent Judiciary, and a Professional Army
among several institutions acclaimed for their excellence are all by-products of the
same education system.
Education in Modern and Independent India
During the post-independence period, the First Education Commission was
constituted in 1948 on university education. The Commission was chaired by
Dr S. Radhakrishnan and was also known as the Radhakrishnan Commission.
As an outcome of its recommendations, the University Grants Commission was
established in 1956. In July 1964 Second Education Commission known as
the Kothari commission was appointed to establish a well designed, balanced,
integrated and adequate system of national education capable of making a powerful
contribution to national life. The Commission emphasized the expansion of higher
education, enhancing the quality of higher education and research; and use of
dynamic techniques for management and organization. In 1968, the national
policy on Education was adopted based on the recommendations of the Kothari
Commission, which led to the considerable expansion of education facilities all
over the country. In rural habitations, schooling facilities were recommended to be
developed within a radius of one kilometre but these did not get translated into the
detailed structure of the implementation.
From 1950, when the Constitution came into force, till 1976, Education was
essentially a State subject, with role of Central Government being limited to
running Central Universities , Central institutions of training and research, and
institutions of national importance, and Coordination and determination of
standards in institutions for higher, scientific and technical education
and research. The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, shifted
Education, in general, from the “State List” to the “Concurrent List”, thus
giving both Central and State Governments jurisdiction over it, concurrently.
While the role and responsibility of the States in regard to education will
remain essentially unchanged, the Union Government would accept a larger
responsibility to reinforce the national and integrative character of education,
to maintain quality and standards, to study and monitor the educational
requirements of the country as a whole in regard to manpower for
development, to cater to the needs of research and advanced study, to look
after the international aspects of education, culture and Human Resource

Development and, in general, to promote excellence at all levels of the
educational pyramid throughout the country.
By the 72nd and 73rd Amendments to the Constitution, bodies of local self
government – Panchayati Raj bodies for rural and Municipal bodies for urban
areas, respectively – were accorded constitutional status, in 1993. Assignment
of functions to these bodies are to be determined by laws enacted by
individual state legislatures. However, the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules of the
constitution provide illustrative lists of items which may, by law, be devolved on
these local bodies. The Eleventh Schedule lists Education up to the Secondary
level, Vocational Education, and Adult and Non-Formal Education, among others.
The Constitution of India is the ultimate document which guides State policy in all
sectors, including Education. Details of important features provisions contained in
the constitution are Provisions of free and compulsory education to all children up
to the age of fourteen years. Education, in general, is the concurrent responsibility
of the Union and the States. However, (a) coordination and determination of
standards in higher and technical education, and (b) institutions declared by
Parliament by law to be institutions of national importance are the responsibility
of the Union. Local authorities (Panchayats and Municipalities) are to be assigned
a suitable role in education (especially School, Adult and Non- formal education)
through individual State legislation. State Governments and Local Authorities are
expected to provide facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary
stage of education.
Next to the Constitution, State Policy is articulated through legislation. Some of
the important Central legislations having a bearing on the subjects allotted to the
Department of Higher Education are The University Grants Commission Act,
1956, National Policy on Education, 1986, as modified in 1992. In keeping with
its billion-plus population and a high proportion of the young, India has devised a
large formal Education System. Attention is given to learning of three languages
viz., Hindi, English and Regional Language. Opportunities for all including women
and people from lower strata of the society were given. This resulted in an increased
reach of education and an increased rate of literacy.
The vision of any educational system is to make youth self-reliant, self-confident
to achieve the goals. However, Modern education in India is often criticized for
being based on rote learning of outmoded syllabus and thus failing to meet this
goal. Emphasis is laid on passing examinations with high percentage. Very few
institutes give importance to nurturing interests and helping in identifying the
aptitude of the students. The ability to develop those aptitudes to bankable

and marketable skills is rudimentary. Failure to focus on Personality development
and creativity and research aptitude among students is appalling. Negligible
guidance and counselling are provided to help the student to walk through the maze
of education and training institute to reach his/her destination of opportunity.
Current Educational System :
As originally envisaged, the current education is grouped into four categories (1)
Primary Education – From Standards 1 to 8 – Up to 14 years of age (2) Secondary
Education – From Standards 9 to 12 – State Board, CBSE, ICSE/ISC, International
curriculum, etc. (3) Vocational Education – Specialized elective subjects with lot
of stress on practicals – Diplomas (4) Tertiary / Higher Education – University
Education – Graduation, Post Graduation, Post Graduate Diplomas, Medicine,
Architecture, Law etc.
Institutions offering higher, advanced and career-oriented learning in post
graduation and doctoral programmes – in science, engineering, design, and
management like Indian Institute of Science (IISc) also known as Tata Institute,
Engineering and Technology like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), quality
education in the field of management like Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
and several such institutions for advanced studies in various faculties were
established both by governmental aids and also by private entrepreneurs. Many
private individual philanthropists, landlords, educationists started schools and
colleges in independent India, in their own locality and did yeomen services to the
cause of education. In fact, the contribution of private individuals and corporates
to the cause of education on pan India basis cannot be underestimated and can be
rated almost on par with that of governmental initiatives.
Today, there is a vast improvement in education, due to the availability of
more educational institutions all over the country coupled with technological
advancement with high tech devices. Dependency on teachers is reduced to a fair
extent in higher studies with the advent of the internet, which provides a lot of
growth in opportunities in various fields.
However, the major flaws still existing in the system as discussed earlier, are
to be removed gradually. The education system should be not only to learn the
facts and concepts but also to focus on understanding the things and to train the
mind creatively to think out of the box. Our attitude towards marks and grades
needs to be changed. Teachers should encourage logical thinking and creativity in
students. Indian Government needs to invest heavily in infrastructure, teachers
and in training the teachers in order to achieve further improvement in the system.
Imbalance of various streams and lack of interest in streams like sports, arts and
music education, to name a few, should be avoided

Conclusion:
Realizing that there is a dire need for revolutionary changes in India’s education
system, both state and central governments are simultaneously working to improve
the system and curriculum continuously. Not just the syllabus and pedagogy, but
also the attitudinal change towards the marks and grades system. Furthermore,
with online modes of education being used by several educational organisations,
the education sector in India is set for some major changes and developments in
the years to come and the day is not too far when our present education system
from just churning out engineers changes gear and produce more professionals
from other different streams like artists, scientists, writers, entrepreneurs etc. all
of whom will play an influential role in the development of the economy/country.

About the Author:

K. Chandrasekaran is a retired marketing professional having served in a Japanese
Conglomerate for more than 34 years in various key positions and widely travelled. He has
been instrumental in bringing in several Japanese Joint Venture Projects and Investments
into India. A resident of La Celeste, he has also served as the Secretary of La Celeste
Owners Association during the period 2014-15. He is the present Secretary of LCCT