The strength of a nation lies in its education system.
India remained a pioneer in the field of education since the ancient times. The
traditional system of education was aimed at grooming the youngsters to grow in
to matured citizens and contribute the maximum in their fields of activities.
With the introduction of the Macaulay system during the 1830s, the course of
Indian education took a reverse turn.
It is unfortunate that even after sixty seven years of
Independence we follow a system that is completely alien to the ethos and
functioning of this great nation. Contemporary studies reveal that the
fundamentals and functioning of India are rooted in our unique social and
cultural traditions. It is high time that we started making the education
nation-centric, when India is fast emerging as a powerful nation at the global
level.
Background
The introduction of the alien education system resulted in cutting off
the umbilical connections of the young Indians with their roots. As a
consequence, the youngsters began to lose touch with their own backgrounds, people
and surroundings. Rabindranath Tagore noted this as early as in 1903: “Our real
ties are with the Bharatavarsha that lies outside our textbooks. If the history
of this tie for a substantially long period gets lost, our soul its anchorage.
After all, we are no weeds or parasitical plants in India. Over many hundreds
of years, it is our roots, hundreds and thousands of them, that have occupied
the very heart of Bharatavarsha. But we
are obliged to learn a brand of history that makes our children forget this
very fact. It appears as if we are nobody in India; as if those who came from
outside alone matter.”1
The position did not change even after independence.
In spite of the wise counsels of the great personalities like Swami
Vivekananda, Maharishi Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and Tagore, solid recommendations
of different committees, suggestions of the higher courts and repeated
appeals by the committed sections, concrete systems have not been put in place by
the concerned authorities in this regard.
School
children want drastic changes
A survey on Indian education was earlier conducted by
the International Foundation for India’s Heritage among school children
studying between the ninth and twelfth standards 2. It covered more
than 11,000 students spread across 21 different states of the country. It was
the first study conducted among the children asking them to give their
opinions. The study was later submitted to the central government during 2005.
The position, problems, difficulties and
recommendations mentioned in the study are revealing. 91 per cent of children
feel that they would benefit from learning the elements of Indian culture. Half
of the students note that the education system is deficient in some respect.
Majority of the students are not aware of the significance of even popular
festivals such as Pongal and Holi. Their recommendations include reduction of
the existing syllabi, less mechanical pedagogy, practical teaching, less book
loads and lesser examination burden.
Higher
education system has no originality
The position in the higher education system is equally
alarming. The universities and colleges show little originality. They all try
to imitate the western systems and implement the western approaches. As a
result, the courses, syllabi and pedagogy are all invariably patterned after
the west. Almost all the institutions try to prescribe the maximum number of
text books written by the foreign authors. Even the remaining ones written by the
Indian academics are mere carbon copies of their counterparts sitting in the distant
lands.
This is true for most of the subjects. As a result the
Indian university system has been
outsourcing its knowledge from the western countries. Hence we are producing
graduates and scholars who lack the proper perspective about our country,
backgrounds and the functioning systems. This is causing serious damage to the functioning
and development of our nation.
India
is emerging despite the failure of educated sections
India was a poor and underdeveloped country at the
time of Independence. The different sectors of the economy were in a very bad
shape. About 45 per cent of the population was living below poverty line. The
literacy rate was a little more than 18 per cent. People were tired of the
alien domination for around thousand years. They had lost their supremacy,
wealth, honor and energy due to the oppressive control of the Europeans in
about two hundred years.
But the nation is fast emerging as a major power
during the recent periods. It is already the third largest economy in the world.
It remains the second fastest growing nation for over a decade. Indian
businesses are already there in different parts of the world. All the
predictions at different levels unanimously point out that India would emerge
stronger in the coming years to reach higher positions at the global level.
The emergence
of India over the last six decades is one of the most successful stories of the
contemporary world. It has happened in spite of the confusions and
contradictions at the policy making levels.
The ruling classes have been consistently imitating only the western
ideas and approaches after independence. It was socialism for more than three
decades since the 1950s and it is the US driven capitalism from the early 1990s.
As a result, India is not able to fully realize her
potentials and achieve the required results. Besides, there are serious problems
that remain to be solved. The main reason for this situation is the lack of
proper understanding of the nation by the educated sections.
Truth
about India’s economic history known due to foreign scholars
India had a vibrant and prosperous economy since the
ancient times. The advancements during the periods of the Indus-Saraswathy
civilization and the subsequent centuries were due to the strong fundamentals.
The first book on economics namely Arthashastra,
was written in India about 2300 years ago. One of the major attractions of
the alien forces towards India was the high level of prosperity and
achievements of the country.
It is unfortunate that no Indian academic expert or an
economics professor attempted to study India’s economic performance of the
earlier centuries, after independence. It is the studies of a few western
scholars in the foreign soils during the past three decades that give the
position and status of the Indian economy over the past two millennia. The
studies by Paul Bairaoch, Andre Gunder Frank and Angus Madission clearly reveal
that India remained the most prosperous economy in the world for most of the
period during the past two thousand years and the western countries entered the
global economic map only about five hundred
years back.
The above studies have completely changed the global
discourse on economics. They have established that India remained as the most
powerful economy in the history till the Europeans intervened with the native
systems and emerged as the leading performers. But even after the publication
of the above path breaking studies, which are accepted by the rest of the
world, the Indian universities are not using them and most of the academics
from the concerned fields are not even aware of such studies till today.
Academics
refuse to study the contemporary systems
Besides, the academics refrain from studying even the
contemporary functioning systems. Different indicators show that the
functioning of the Indian economy, business, social and cultural systems are
much better than those of the western countries. This is the reason why the nation
has been emerging powerfully, in spite of the repeated failures of the policy
making classes and the many difficulties surrounding the lives of people. How
many of us know that India’s growth rates after independence continue to remain
more than those of most of the richer countries in the world?
The studies undertaken by the western experts in their
countries reveal that their systems of functioning at the family, social,
business and economic levels suffer from serious limitations and have been
failing to a large extent. As a result they are looking for alternatives and
find that many of the Indian methods are far superior. They openly admit that
India has her own ‘business models’ and there is an ‘Indian way’ of functioning
in the economy. As a result many of the western universities and business
schools have started studying India. A few months back there was a big team of
scholars from the Harvard institutions to study the Maha Kumbh Mela at Allahabad.
Field
studies reveal strong fundamentals and unique systems
Field studies relating to the functioning of the
economy being undertaken in different parts of the country from the Indian
perspectives during the past two decades continue to reveal many new facts3.
They show that India has strong fundamentals, with higher rates of saving and
capital formation, lots of entrepreneurial abilities and distinct functioning
methods. They also show that the families and societies play a larger role in shaping
the functioning of the economy, with the women playing a crucial role.
Besides the studies reveal that the basic reason for
the functioning of the Indian families, society, businesses and the economy remain
the traditional and cultural strengths of our nation. Further they show that the growth of nation
has been due to the extraordinary efforts and native intelligence of the
millions of people who are identified as the ordinary sections of the society.
India-centric
studies is the need of the hour
Hence it is important that we have to understand the
functioning systems of our country from the true perspectives. Without a clear knowledge about
the ground realities, it is not possible to develop original ideas and frame
policies. For this purpose, we require studies at different levels. They can be
better undertaken only by those who understand the local backgrounds without
the preconceived notions. Simultaneously the Indian concepts, knowledge systems
and functioning methods have to be disseminated to the relevant sections and
the student community at different levels.
India’s emergence should be on her own terms and native
strengths. It should be for the benefit of all sections of the society. The rest of the world expects the Indian
model to show a new way for them as well. As the great visionary Swami
Vivekananda noted we have to see the Bharat Mata sitting at the throne in all her
glory very soon. It is possible, as she has the required strengths and all the
potential. The immediate step in this process is to make the Indian education
nation-centric.
References:
2.
Michel Danino, ‘ A Survey of Indian
Education’, International Forum for India’s Heritage, Submitted to the Govt. of
India, New Delhi, 2005
3.
P.Kanagasabapathi, Indian Models of Economy, Business and
Management, Third Edition, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012
(Excerpts of the
presentation on “Making Education Nation-Centric”, during the two day National Seminar on ‘Value
building is nation building’ organized by Swami Vivekananda 150th
Birth Anniversary Celebrations Committee at the VIT University Campus, Chennai,
Oct 4-5, 2013)
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