A history of Indian education

The Indian educational system is probably one of the largest in the world. In fact, the country’s higher education system ranks third in the world, after the United States and China. Furthermore, it is even expected to outpace the US in about 5 years and China in about 20 years.

Some statistics suggest that the population of the country’s college-age group will continue to increase, which again is a very positive thing for the country’s education system.

However, as good as the future prospects of the Indian educational system may seem, there is also an equally interesting history of education in India. We will learn more about that below.

A general vision

The educational system began in South Asia with the teaching of many traditional educational elements, such as Indian mathematics, Indian religions, and Indian logic. There may also be many other things that were thought about during the period, but these three seem to be the most common.

The learning centers were built in Taxila, which is now part of present-day Pakistan, and Nalanda, which is still part of India.

Things changed quite quickly after the British invaded India. The Western educational system was introduced at this point and is apparently still largely followed in the country.

Early history

When education started in India, it used to be under the supervision of a “guru” or, in a more modern sense, a teacher. However, back then, education was obtained to learn things that would help one achieve Moksha or achieve liberation.

However, shortly after that, India’s educational system witnessed many changes, including the emergence of “whole-caste” education. The Brahmins were made to learn about religion and scriptures, while the Kshatriya would learn about war activities. The Vaishyas would be taught mathematics and business activities, while the Shudras, believed to be of the lowest caste, were denied education altogether.

How was the education delivered?

Also, the way students were educated used to be very different than it is now. Back then, students were forced to stay in “ashrams”, which were often far from their homes. Also, they were made to follow strict guidelines set by their guru.

The changes that begin to set in

However, the population began to increase at a rather tremendous rate after the beginning of the Gupta empire period, and thus learning centers were established in cities such as Varanasi and Nalanda. Obviously, this also led to many changes in the then educational system of India.

However, religion still used to be an important factor in providing education to students. However, in addition to religious teachings, the students were also taught various different things such as arts and sciences, politics, economics, philosophy, etc. It goes without saying that, back then, all these different educational elements were called by different names.

More information

If you want to learn more about the Indian education system, you can visit SearchAllIndia.com, a blog dedicated to the modern Indian education system.

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