By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 6 Feb: Rotary Club Dehradun organised a talk on the constantly progressing education system in India. Prof OP Kulshrestha, ex-Principal, DBS (PG) College, was the keynote speaker on the occasion. He was formally introduced to the audience by Dr AK Srivastava.
In his lecture, Prof Kulshrestha divided the total history of the development of education system in India into five stages. Initially, in the Vedic period, the education system was focused on the teaching of Vedas and Vedanta. Then followed the Gurukul System, where the students used to stay at the Ashram of the Guru and most of the education was oral with ritualistic approach. The education was limited to the pupils of elite class of society only. Pali and Sanskrit were the main languages. After this period, the Buddhist period came and there was a shift from Ashram to Matth of Buddhism. Astronomy, study of Buddhist and Jain Literature and religion based education became more popular. Taxila, Nalanda and Vikramshila Universities played a vital role in the teaching and learning process.
The nation witnessed a series of Muslim and Mughal invasions and this resulted in a great change in the education system. Numerous dynasties like Khilji, Tughlaq, Lodi, Syed, Mughals invaded and their chief aim was to export wealth of India to their countries. They destroyed the institutions and temples. Libraries were systematically destroyed and every effort was made to spread Islam in the country. Madrasas were established to propagate Islam.
In the next stage, Dutch, Portuguese and finally the British came to India. Initially, all of them wanted to establish their trade and commerce, but after sometime all of them started seeing their political interest in the country. The education system of the country was always influenced by these forces. With the passage of time, the governing power shifted from East India Company to the Royal throne of England. The British Government did not want to provide high standard of education to Indians. They educated the people to manage their work and institutions in India. That is why very few universities and colleges of Higher Education could be established. Both the world wars also adversely affected the education system of India.
After Independence, the Indian Government established the Dr Radhakrishnan Commission, Narendra Deo Samiti, Kothari Commission and UGC to modernise the education system of India. Education was considered to be the subject of, both, Central and State governments. The new Education Policy came in 1986. At the moment, the country has 46 Central Universities, 689 State Universities, 124 deemed Universities, 15 Open Universities and 132 other types of Universities. Besides, that it has 38,498 colleges. The government has introduced RUSA, RMSA and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to manage Secondary and Primary Education.
All the members of the club found the talk very informative and enlightening. Past President Joginder Singh proposed the vote of thanks and President Anup Kaul presented a memento to the speaker.
