Shiksha pe Charcha: Visiting the Educational Heritage of Ancient India
By: Ashutosh Jalan
Tags: India, Education, Culture, Education Reform, Indic

Ancient India had a supportive ecosystem of education right from the primary stage to higher education which is currently absent in modern India. Every village had a school. Various universities had their specializations much like what we currently see in Western Countries. Mithila University in Bihar specialised in logics while Ujjaini University specialised in Astronomy and Mathematics. At one time, Nalanda University in Bihar was rivalled by Valabhi from Gujrat and Vikramshila from Bihar.

Education was accorded a sacred status. The “Upanayan ceremony” which marked the beginning of formal education of a child was considered to be “second birth”. Women too had the “Upanayan ceremony”. Yes, you read it right. They too had it. Interestingly, an illiterate woman had odd against her of finding a suitable groom.

Education was heavily funded by state and other donors. Revenue from tens of villages, and large tracts of land were granted for universities. The village schools were maintained by institutions of local governance while Universities were funded by Kings. Education was heavily subsidized so as those willing might not get left out.

The pathetic state of education of our country shows how imperialism (Turko-Afghan rule, British rule) continues to obscure our mind that we have not yet given 1st priority to education. Broadly speaking, public sector is unable to provide quality education and private sector is unaffordable for many. Moreover, students in Higher Educational Institutions are bearing the brunt of reduced grants by the state. The grant reduction might be owed to several other constraints but it also shows how state and the current society sees and values education.

Ancient India produced bulks of Intellectuals whereas Modern India produces a fraction of that stature. The underlying factor was a conducive ecosystem which was fuelled by public funded highly subsidized higher education. It showed the perspective of society towards the education. Ancient India saw “Education as a means to an end” whereas Modern India sees “Education as an end in itself”.

Our society has fallen in such an abyss due to the imperialist rule that it has forgotten the value it once accorded to the education.

Islamic Invasion and British colonization had devastating effect. State language, being different from native language eroded the vernacular literature as jobs were available for people having knowledge of state language. Apart from illiteracy, it also resulted in conversions and low self confidence among masses.

The Industrial and Vocational Training was well in place apart from well entrenched “jaati system”. Functionally speaking, the jaati framework was a social capital which gradually got eroded due to the changing social dynamics and proliferation of modern education system. Interestingly, the formal system was open for all varnas. This gap due to the erosion of formal and informal institutions has lately been promised to be filled by our “National Education Policy 2020”.

The Question is which bits and pieces of our educational heritage can we imbibe in our current educational system so as to fulfil our national aspirations of becoming a “Vishwaguru”. India cannot be a “Vishwaguru” unless it leads the path. And, that path has to be shown by our intellectuals.

There is an imminent need to raise the mass consciousness towards understanding the true value of education. In modern era, the State has to take the lead by creating the conducive ecosystem. All ills- Terrorism & Crime, Environmental hazards and degradation, Water Scarcity, consumerism, can be tackled by the weapon of Education. It is only when the entire society practices “Gyan yoga” will it be able to attain “moksha”.