EDUCATION AND SOCIETY

• Much has been written on the relationship between education and society, liberalism, social change, under-achievement in education, the functional view of education, and the crises in higher education.
• Education provides necessary knowledge and skills for individuals to operate ideally in society and contribute to its efficient functioning.
• Education is inspired by ideological postulates that derive from society but goes beyond transmitting cultural heritage and promoting society’s ideals and values.
• Education, with a purposive orientation, can be a powerful tool for reshaping and modernising society.
• Educational institutions are an integral and sensitive part of society, influenced by society’s norms and values.
• In pre-independence India, three schools of thought regarding education were visible:
  1. Nativistic and revivalistic view rejected foreign influence and focused on ancient Hindu heritage.
     • Hindu revivalists set up schools modeled on the Gurukula system, emphasizing an austere life and teaching Vedic literature.
  2. Indigenisation of education sought to make education relevant to Indian conditions without rejecting modern foreign learning.
     • Institutions like Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Kashi Vidyapith, Gujarat Vidyapith, and Jamia Millia Islamia were established with this objective.
  3. British-model education aimed at creating a class of individuals who were Indian in blood and colour but English in tastes, opinions, morals, and intellect.
     • This idea was expressed in Macaulay’s 1835 statement about creating interpreters between the British and the Indian masses.
• Post-independence India saw phenomenal growth in education across all levels: primary, higher secondary, and college/university.
• The quantitative growth in education affected the quality of education.
• Despite efforts, the educational system remained largely colonial, with many committees suggesting improvements, but the status quo persisted.
• Current government vision and policy in education focus on:
  • Universalisation of primary education.
  • Vocationalisation of secondary education.
  • Rationalisation of higher education.
• The policies aim to:
  • Stamp out illiteracy and arrange ‘Education for all’ (EFA) to ensure all children between the age of six and fourteen years attend school (about 24% of the country’s population).
  • Help illiterate adults (about 40% of the population in 1998) learn to read and write.
  • Improve the quality of education.

OBJECTIVES OF EDUCATION

The three perennial objectives of education are:

• Pursuit of man to know himself and the universe and to relate to the social world as effectively as possible.
• Building bridges between the past and future, i.e., transmitting the accumulated results of the past to the growing generation to carry forward cultural heritage and build the future.
• Accelerating human progress, as much as possible.

Additional objectives of education include:

• Integral growth of personality traits like intelligence, skill, will-power, character, and attitudes.
• Development of both individual and society:
  • For society: development includes economic, social, political, and cultural growth.
  • For individuals: education helps in creating a rationalistic and idealistic mind.
• Generating and strengthening harmony and peace:
  • Peace is seen as positive, involving harmonious activities for international understanding and cooperation, respecting all people, their cultures, civilizations, values, and ways of life.

According to the International Commission on the Development of Education (UNESCO, 1971), the central demand of education is:

• To know, to possess, and to be.
• To be refers to the development of personality.

Education objectives by level:

• Primary level: Learning the three R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic).
• Secondary level: Character building.
• Higher secondary level: Understanding society.
• College/university level: Skill-training.

THE TRADITIONAL AND THE MODERN CONTEXTS OF EDUCATION

Education in the Past

• Education in early India has to be understood from both historical growth and philosophic significance.
• In the Vedic period, schools were boarding schools, where children were handed over to teachers at the age of about eight years.
• The focus of education was on developing ideal behavior, not utilitarian goals.
• Knowledge was seen as something that lent meaning, glory, and luster to life.
• The teacher took personal interest in the lives of students, ensuring comprehensive education.
• Physical education was compulsory, and students were taught to build a strong and healthy body.
• Training was provided in art of war, including archery, riding, driving, and other allied fields.
• Education started with phonology, followed by grammar studies, then logic (the laws of reasoning and the art of thinking).
• The curriculum also included arts and crafts and concluded with discipline of life, which emphasized sexual purity, chastity, simplicity, equality, fraternity, independence, and respect for teachers.
• Thus, language, logic, craft, discipline, and character building were fundamental in early education in India.
• In the Brahmanical period, the focus of education was on learning the Vedas.
• Sudras were excluded from education, and education was based on caste rather than ability or aptitude.
• Women were also excluded from education during this period.
• In the Muslim period, the objectives of education shifted towards teaching the three R’s and training in religious norms.
• Higher education was imparted in schools of learning, while vocational training was provided within the caste structure.
• Sanskrit and Arabic or Persian were the languages of instruction.
• Teachers were paid through land grants, presents, allowances from wealthy citizens, and in the form of food, clothes, or other articles.
• Financially, schools were weak and often held in temples, mosques, or teachers’ houses.
• Education was conducted by Maulvis for Muslim students and Brahmins for Hindu students.
• Vocational training was often given by family members like fathers or brothers.
• The caste system transmitted vocational skills and provided employment across generations.
• There was little emphasis on physical education, critical thinking, or learning crafts.
• Ideals such as chastity, equality, and simplicity were not part of the student life.
• Specialization in professional roles had not yet reached a stage where a separate class or caste focused exclusively on education.
• Education in the British period primarily aimed at producing clerks.
• Education was student-centered, in contrast to the teacher-centered approach of earlier periods.
• The focus was not on individual freedom, excellence, equality, self-reliance, or national cohesion.
• Christian missionaries played a significant role in education, with an emphasis on religious conversion.
• Education in schools and colleges was not designed to break social, regional, or linguistic barriers.
• The education system did not aim at producing masters of technology or fighting injustice, intolerance, and superstition.