CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

Education is the basis of human life. Development and progress

of man depends on education. Education also constructs personality

and beautifies it. A child conducts himself like an animal at the time of

birth; at that time, he acts as inspired by his instincts; education guides

these instincts of his in order to provide maturity; it makes his

behaviour, his conduct and his activities proper and socially useful.

Education motivates, encourages and guides man from falsehood to

truth, from dark to illumination, from ignorance to knowledge and from

mortality to immortality. It is by education that man has reached this

zenith of civilization.

Education is an eternal thirst and desire, which is not related with

the Art of Living alone, rather it is connected with the ideals of life.

Education awakens the social consciousness; it protects the social

heritage and transfers it to the next generation and develops it.

Education brings out man from his limited knowledge in order to enable

him so that he can adopt a healthy attitude towards the society, nation

and the whole world and so that he is able to perform his duty well.

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1.1 MEANING OF EDUCATION

Education is a comprehensive term. Its implications are rich and

varied. It deals with ever growing man in the ever growing society.

Different philosophers, politicians, statesman and educationists have

defined education differently, according to their own point of view and

circumstances.

Etymologically, the term education has been explained in a

number of ways. It is also said to have been derived from the Latin

word Educare which means to bring up. The aim of education is to

bring up or to nurse.

It might also have been derived from the Latin Word Educere,

which means to lead out or to draw out. Education draws out the best

in the man. Thus education is the development of individual’s talents. It

is to draw out inner knowledge, virtues and powers of the child.

1.2 EDUCATION IN INDIAN AND WESTERN CONTEXT - OLD

AND MODERN EDUCATION

INDIAN CONCEPT OF EDUCATION

(a) OLD CONCEPT : According to Rig-Veda, education is something

which makes a man self-reliant and selfless. The Upnishads explain that

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education is that whose end product is salvation. Kauttlya is of the

view, education means training for the country and love for the nation.

Shankracharya considers education as the realisation of the self.

(b) MODERN CONCEPT : In the words of Vivekananda, “Education

is the manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man.”

Tagore held the view “Education means enabling the mind to find out

the ultimate truth which emancipates us from the bondage of dust and

gives the wealth, not of things but of inner light, not of power but of

love, making this truth its own and giving expression to it.” Mahatma

Gandhi has said, “By education I mean all round drawing out of the

best in child and man, body, mind and spirit.”

The Indian concept of education is well summarized by the

Secondary Education Commission :

Education according to Indian tradition is not merely a mean to

earning a thing, nor is it only a nursery of thought or a school for

citizenship. It is initiation into the life of spirit, a training of human souls

in the pursuit of truth and the practice of virtue. It is a second birth

dvitiyam janma i.e. education for liberation.

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 WESTERN CONCEPT OF EDUCATION

(a) OLD CONCEPT : Plato was of the view, “Education is the

capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment. It develops in

the body and the soul of the pupil all the beauty and all the perfection,

which he is capable of.” Aristotle held the view, “Education is the

creation of a sound mind in a sound body. It develops man’s faculty,

especially his mind, so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation

of supreme truth, goodness and beauty in which perfect happiness

essentially lies.”

(b) MODERN CONCEPT : Pestalozzi has said, “Education is a

natural, harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate

powers.” Froebel was of the view “Education is unfoldment of what is

already enfolded in the germ. It is the process through which child

makes his internal external.”

T.P. Nunn has laid down : “Education is the complete

development of the individuality of the child so that he can make an

original contribution to human life according to the best of his capacity.”

Ross has said, “The aim of education is the development of

valuable personality and spiritual individuality.” John Dewey holds the

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view, “Education is the process of living through a common

reconstruction of experiences. It is the development of all those

capacities in the individual which will enable him to control his

environment and fulfill his possibilities.”

1.3 SYNTHESIS OF INDIAN AND WESTERN EDUCATION

It is clear from the above discussion of the meaning of education

in West and India, ancient and modern that it may be synthesized since

all these accept some common characteristics of education. The

following points concerning the meaning of education emerge from a

review of the meaning of education in the west and in India :

1. A life long process : Education according to most of the

philosophers continues from birth to death. As Madam Paul

Richard pointed out, the education of man, “should begin at his

very birth and it is to continue the whole land of his life.”

2. Unfolding : Education is a gradual unfolding. In his allegory of the

cave Plato observes that “the power and capacity of learning

exists in the soul already, and just as the eye was unable to turn

from darkness to light, without the whole body, so too, the

instrument of knowledge can only, by the movement of the whole

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 soul, be turned from the world or becoming into that of being and

learn by degrees to endure the sight of being and of the brightest

and best of being or in other words of the good.” It is in the same

sense that Sri Aurobindo, “The Chief aim of education should be

to help the growing soul to draw out that in itself which is best and

make it perfect for a noble use.”

3. Based on child psychology : Western thinkers anonymously

agreed that true education should be based on child psychology.

This again has been accepted by Indian philosophers of education.

According to Sri Aurobindo, “Nothing can be taught to the mind

which is not already concealed as potential knowledge in the

unfolding soul of the creature.” Educational theory must be based

on sound psychology. As Sri Aurobindo points out, “The true

basis of education is the study of the human mind, infant,

adolescent and adult.”

4. Individual as well as social : True education is individual as well

as social. Plato brought out a scheme of education according to

each individual’s capacities to serve the society. Philosophers in the

west have everywhere laid emphasis upon individual as well as

social aims of education. Contemporary Indian philosophers also

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 exhibit this tendency. M.K. Gandhi said, “I value individual

freedom, but you must not forget that man is essentially a social

being. He has risen to his present status by learning to adjust his

individuality to the requirements of social progress.”

5. Total development : Thus education by general agreement is a

total development, physical, mental and spiritual, individual as well

as social. This total development is the meaning of self realisation.

This synthesis of the different aspects of man’s development is

characteristics of not only idealism but also naturalism, pragmatism

and realism. It is again the meaning of perfection, acclaimed as the

aim of education by so many thinkers. It is also what is known as

complete education. It is again the humanist meaning of education

since man is a complex being having several aspects of his

personality all of which require full development. According to Sri

Aurobindo, education should help the individual to grow, “into a

fullness of physical and vital energy and utmost breadth, depth and

height of his emotional, his intellectual and his spiritual being.” The

total development lays equal emphasis upon physical as well as

spiritual growth. Without physical culture mental training has been

considered as one sided. In the words of Aldous Huxley, “where

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the body is maladjusted and under strain, the mind’s relations,

sensory, emotional, intellectual, conative, with external reality are

likely to be unsatisfactory.” Education aims at an all round and total

perfection of the individual and society. Hence physical culture

should form an important part of the education process. As Sri

Aurobindo puts it, “If seeking is for a total perfection of the being,

the physical part of it cannot be left aside, for the body is the

material basis, the body is the instrument which we have to use.”

Similar quotations may be hunted from other philosophers of

education in West and East. The total development involves

character development, development of social virtues and

individual skills. It includes all the various aims of education. It

involves all the functions of education in human life such as

development of natural abilities, character building, personality

integration, preparation for adult life, control and sublimation of

basic instinct, creation of useful citizens, development of a sense of

community, progress of culture and civilization, social welfare, use

of leisure and synthesis of national as well as international

consciousness.

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1.4 EDUCATION SYSTEM FROM ANCIENT PERIOD TO MODERN

PERIOD

ANCIENT EDUCATION SYSTEM

Vedic Period :

The present history of India begins from the Vedic Age. The

period between Vaivaswat Manu and Mahabharat may be called the

‘Vedic Age’ because some ‘mantras’ were perceived during the time of

Mahabharat. The civilization of Vedic Age continued developing during

the Ramayana and Mahabharata periods.

Realization of Brahma and self-knowledge by free thinking was

the aim of ancient Indian education. There was close relationship

between the teacher and the pupil. The pupil lived as a family member

of the teacher. The Guru occupied a very high place in ancient

education. The later half of ancient Indian education is called the period

of Buddhist education.

Buddhist Period :

Buddhas gave no regard to the light of ‘Vedas’. They also

rejected the idea of caste-system. Great importance is attached to

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knowledge in Buddhist education : as salvation is possible only through

knowledge. Therefore, people showed an increasing interest in studying

and teaching at that time. Memorisation and meditation were the main

methods of teaching.

Education was free in Vedic and Buddhistic periods. Life was very

easy, so there was no need of much money. If we want to understand

the ancient educational system on the basis of modern system of

education, we would say that there was the organization of the

education of all stages – Primary, secondary and higher. ‘Ashramas’

were, in a way, primary schools and ‘Charanas’ may be called

secondary schools. There were ‘Parishads’ for higher education which

was like central universities.

Muslim Period :

We find the description of two kinds of schools in the Muslim

period, the one being 'Muslim education system' and the other 'Hindu

education system'. There were mainly Maqtabs and Madarsas in

muslim education system. The Hindu children studied in Pathshalas.

Education of different subjects like Sanskrit, Language, Poetry, Drama,

Purana, History, Mathematics, Astronomy and Ayurveda was skillfully

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imparted to the children by efficient teachers. Thus, Hindus presented

the tradition of their ancient education, even though they were not

aided by the government.

British Period :

When English people dominated over India, they did not pay any

attention towards Indian education. During the regime of the company

no attention was paid towards education. The pathshalas and Maqtabs

gradually come to an end due to the shortage of money. If English

government had made an attempt to develop the traditional system of

education by giving it proper help, its condition would not have been so

bad as is today. The medium of education in this period was English

and the study of all subjects of knowledge and Science was started.

The British system of education benefited the Indians indirectly.

It was due to the introduction of English language as medium of

instruction and teaching of English literature as a subject that the

scientific and industrial development and the social and political

philosophy of west became familiar to Indians. Indian mind was freed

from the slavery of old world ideas and laid the foundation of a

renaissance in modern Indian life. India owes the scientific and critical

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study of her ancient culture to European scholars. It was due to some

western linguistic and literary scholars that the development of Indian

Modern Languages was possible. The contribution of Sir George

Grierson's Linguistic survey of India can never be forgotten. It is true

that the first incentives to the study of modern Indian language came

from European scholars.

The same may be said about Indian Art. In the rediscovery of

Indian painting, architecture or sculpture, the pioneer work was almost

done by European scholars who found our ancient treasure. It was the

contact with the West which was responsible for the awakening of

several humanistic trends in modern Indian life. The sympathy for the

downtrodden, the movement against untouchability, the emancipation

of the modern Indian women, the spirit of social service which are seen

in every walk of life and more clearly in education - all these

movements owe a debt of gratitude to western influence that came in

the wake of the British Administration. Finally we owe to the British our

acquaintance with the modern democratic institutions of Europe, the

Western system of law and medicine, the auxiliary tools of popular

education such as press, the cinema, the radio, the television, the

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computer, the library, the museum etc. Thus we see the contribution of

British people in our modern day to day life is no less important.

Pythagoras is said to be the inventor of the word philosophy.

Philosophy then occurred in the context of travelling for the sake of

theory. Pythagoras was a recipient as well as transmitter of Indian

wisdom. Herodotus, Plato and Aristotle etc. recognize the Greek debt to

India. Bertrand Russell was also one of them who affected much Indian

education system and showed a path of progress to our country.

Bertrand Russell has been a bright star in the education world

who created a revolution in the field of education by his teaching

thought and contemplation. He was a man of uncommon talent, his

personality was multidimensional. He was a British philosopher,

lecturer, politician, mathematician, political scientist, messenger of

world peace and disarmament and great educationist, all woven into

one. He supported human welfare. He took interest in the basic

problems of man and tried to serve man by presenting a happy solution

of those problems. The educational theories that he laid down on the

basis of his personal experiences are certainly his great contribution to

the history of education.

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