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

11-30-2005, 09:49 AM

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