A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN INDIAN EDUCATION

Indian history, like world history, is divided into three periods: ancient, medieval, modern. Ancient period starts from Indus Valley Civilization down to the eighth century. In the intervening period Aryans came and introduced the caste system in which Brahman stood at the apex and Shudra at the bottom, and in between stood Chattari and Vaish. Aryans were a pastoral society who took to cultivation in course of time. Wars and peace among them went on strengthening caste system on the one hand and enriched their literary activities on the other. Their society developed rites and rituals to an unwieldy level. Then a prince of Kapilavastu started a simple religion which came to be known as Buddhism. Its simplicity and non-violence attracted multitude of people. But with the revival of Brahmanism, Buddhism which had spread in East and South-East countries of Asia shrank and almost disappeared from the country of its origin. Both those great religions had developed their Education systems based on their socio-religious thought structures. Medieval is the period from the eighth century to the British rule. Arabs, Turko-Mongols, Afghans came and settled here. They brought their own Education system based on their socio-religious thought structure. There was lot of give and take between the two people. Development of Urdu language is the living evidence of that cultural intermixture of languages, because Urdu is composed of Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Sanskrit and other local languages of India. Ashrams, Pathshalas, and Vidyalayas were established under local System of Education, whereas Institutions established by the newly arrived were called Maktabs and Madrassas. Modern is the period starting from the advent of the British. Though the first to come were Portuguese followed by Dutch, French and British, but in the end all other departed except Portuguese and the British. Portuguese stayed in the small colony of Goa even after India won independence from the British. Portuguese, however, had long abandoned their political ambitions in Indian politics. Their contribution to Indian society was also minimal. British East India Company was commissioned in 1600 by queen Elizabeth. It was a trading joint stock trading company. Its shareholders elected its Directors who constituted the Court of Directors. Besides, there was a Board of Control whose ex officio members were the Secretary of State and the Chancellor of Exchequer and three members. The company started its trade with India, but soon started to fill the political vacuum gradually created by the failing Mughal authority. The rule of East India Company came to an end in 1858, when India came directly under the Crown. British contributions to Indian people were: Railways; Education; and Language. Much can be said about the motives of the British about introducing the above mentioned three things, but nobody can deny their need even now: Railways, English Education, and English language are Indispensable.The basic structure of our System of Education including the organization and principles of functioning of schools, colleges and universities are similar to English institutions of learning. In short, our System of Education is similar to British System of Education with the revolutionary difference that earlier it was serving imperial objectives and now it is serving the national objectives of an independent India. We can understand our System of Education, its merits and demerits, and problems of education by studying the development of education during the last two hundred years, starting from the establishment of Calcutta Madrassa by Warren Hastings in 1781. This study can be done with the help of Committees, Conferences and Commissions, which were called from time to time to resolve problems. Their recommendations provide the groundwork for the development of education in the period under study.

• | Author: Syed Masroor Hashmi
• | Publisher: Independently published
• | Publication Date: Nov 24, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 46 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1710017287
• | ISBN-13: 9781710017281