Education system in India

[6/7, 12:39 PM] Ayesha In: "Education" which basically means enlightening a person or children in a systematic way on a particular subject at school and universities. Even before the formal schooling which took over in India in 1920 (approx), the gurukuls have had a profound role in educating the masses. There has been tremendous growth in the education system since the 1920s, there lies a vast difference in Gurukul and the present day education system.

The gurukul system was never decided on the age basis, but the gurus (teachers) used to train children on the basis of their wisdom, interest and capability to grasp. Indeed there were junior and senior levels, but there was no strict division. The daily tasks that were given by the gurus to the students were to imbibe disciplines and morals in them through practical way of learning, and not just on theory basis. As the students had to live in the Gurukul, an emotional bond developed between gurus and shishyas (students). This also taught the students to value relations. The fee given here was in the form of dakshina. The guru did not expect any fees but whatever the student gave back was in the form of gift, but obliged to whatever the student gave in form of gift.

Today the education system in India aims at educating on the basis of age via schools and universities. It mostly resembles the western way, where the idea is to educate the child with basic knowledge of every subject and later help him to master in the field where his interest lies.

Indeed the invention of schools was a great accomplishment for the government, as it became very easy for masses to have access towards education and tribulations which they faced while sending these children to gurukuls, Children who were not able to acquire knowledge, because their parents were reluctant to send them to Gurukul, was no more an issue. We could see that all these issues were basically resolved with the invention of schools. All the schools levied minimal fees with the idea of equality, the syllabus was now no more just connected to Indian roots like the gurukul system but social, science, maths were now made broader, as the books from all over the world were referred. This was indeed the golden period for there was no much difference between government and non government schools. Every school prepared child to be more intellectual rather than just being intelligent. Teaching was considered one of the most noble professions during that period but the global change took place once again in the 1990s.

When privatization took over and more the number of private schools came up than the government ones. Competitions began at cut throat level. Core subjects like moral science, general knowledge were now being marginalized, slowly the root cultural ethics were excluded from the subjects. The main concern now was the "percentage " than the IQ level. It is being commercialized day by day with upcoming tutorials and extra coaching classes. The students are now no more enthusiastic to ask questions like how, when or any other for they are more concerned with the marks due to the pressure of both parents and school. Every school desires for toppers therefore exams are conducted to find out if the child is eligible to study in their school or not. Down the spectrum it is turning into a business deal. Indeed the schools are increasing the intelligence level of the students but their intellect level fails to meet their intelligence level mark.

[6/7, 12:39 PM] Ayesha In: The fees of these schools are really very high, hence most of the people run for education loans. Indeed India has established IIT universities, but only few can afford, they are either the ones who have scored extremely good marks or the ones who can pay for seats. Education is now becoming a lucrative job, therefore it's sad to note, as once the idea in India was to produce excellent teachers, writers, doctors and lawyers has now ended up producing students with excellent marks. This is definitely an irony because where we are projecting Indian students as most talented, at the same time there are many suicides due to the pressure. Down below the laws, we have lost our intellect in search of intelligence.