Education System- Indian Perspective

Education System – Indian Perspective

Y.Sudershan Rao

Prof of History

Kakatiya University

Warangal

506009

Indian Culture is based on the Veda. The Veda is, in turn, based on Dharma. Therefore, Dharma is preserved in the Veda and practised in Indian Culture. The main objective of Indian Education System (IES) is to guide the people to tread on the path of Dharma. Its purpose is to make them humane and responsive to the demands of their mother land and society to which they are indebted immensely for their living. Its philosophy is to enlighten them regarding the final goal to be reached by every individual. Thus IES humanizes man who is otherwise a greedily selfish and brutally undisciplined being and further elevates him to divinity also if pursued seriously under the guidance of an accomplished Guru. Other Systems, particularly those of the West, have mundane objectives and impart training in eking out a livelihood. Western System was implanted in India in the early decades of the nineteenth century by the colonial masters. But it soon spread like a wild fire being sponsored by the Christian Missionaries with the outright support of the British Government. Since IES had already lost the official patronage during the Muslim rule in India for over 7 centuries by then, it could no longer stand on its own against the strong tides of Westernism in all walks of life. In a short span of a half century, IES was totally replaced by the Western System. IES has suffered such a serious set back that it is found very difficult to revive it even in a small way during the post-independence period. The English educated Indian intellectuals adopting western political philosophies as their creeds have become a stumbling block for any efforts of revival of IES to safeguard their vested interests.

Our time-tested IES not only disciplines young minds to think and act properly but also equips them with both worldly and other worldly knowledge. The disciple and his master do not depend on external aids to store and retrieve required information. Before opting for a specialized branch of knowledge, the disciple is educated in a comprehensive manner. Every Sastra or Purana is encyclopedic in nature and contents. Therefore, once he comes out of a Gurukula, he is a real master of knowledge. He is totally transformed from a disciple to an accomplished Guru. Guru doesn’t pass him out unless he scores cent per cent unlike the present system. The disciple should not only satisfy his master with his scholarship, he should win laurels in the Panditha sabhas at important centers of learning. His success in the external centers would graduate him in real sense. IES is such a perfect mechanism that the products do not suffer any manufactural defects. The typology of IES could be understood from the composition of the Veda. The Veda has four levels of study, viz. Samhitha consisting of basic contents, Brahmana practical manual of rituals, Aranyaka delving into its meaning and purpose and the Upanishad imparting the final wisdom. Thus the aim of IES is to reach perfection in respect of information, its practice, philosophy and wisdom. Unfortunately the present system is too far from these noble objectives. It is time to rethink and formulate a workable system integrating both the modern techniques of learning and the ancient noble ideals of education.

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