A Short Story of Indian Schools

Now, I am no expert in any field related to education, but merely a class 10 student , but as Shahrukh says , never underestimate the power of a student ( and this one is not common, dealing with 6 different subjects with 15 chapters of 20 pages each , that too in extremely small print  with 2 days to study for the symbols (also called numbers or marks) to determine what I am capable of doing in my own life 😀) So I am going to tell my little knowledge about the history of the great Indian education system.

It all started (means as old as I know J) , as we know with the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, with small institutions called gurukuls . It would have a guru, and of course the disciples. But here’s the hunch: the guru and only the guru decides what to teach the students. Yes! The guru decides what levels of study student must be taught , and most of this was targeting towards the moral development  and the enlightenment of the individual child with philosophical knowledge and values . Other subjects must have been based on the skills of the individual , and when the guru feels that he has taught as much as he can , then the education of the student is completed . Not only this , the system was also flexible , which allowed even students from agricultural or poor backgrounds  to educate themselves .( For example, during the harvest season , the gurukul would remain shut so that students can help their families, and then gurukuls would resume.)

But all of this changed with the arrival of the British into India. Though there were people in the British government who wanted to continue with the existing system of education, a prominent person , namely Thomas Babington Macaulay believed that Indian education system must be reformed and the only way to do this ( according to him ) was by introducing English. He believed that this was the path to becoming successful people and allow them to read the most famous and rich literatures written in English all around the world. One other intention , not specifically mentioned anywhere, was also that it would become easier for Britishers to communicate with Indians if they learn English, rather than them learning the regional languages.

So the British introduced their education system into India , and we have been following that ever since. But here’s the flaw: the British system of education has been changed 3 times since then, then why not ours ?

The truth is that, we are evolving ; evolving  the current education system,  into what suits our country the best. It is true, that the government is doing the best of its job to try to change this system, but we all make mistakes. And the biggest mistake here , is not knowing what the mistake is , or in other words, we are not asking the right questions.....