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On the more practical side, the
taught should become capable of earning their livelihood.
Instead of imparting this kind of education what had the British
education system bred? Nothing, but bundles of negations! What
was desirable in education was the amalgamation of western
science with Vedanta. Gandhi’s criterion for judging
the credentials of an education system was quite clear. Without
mincing words, he declared that education could not be called
nationalist if it did not take into account the starving
millions.
Stimulated by
such ideas, Indianisation of education system was carried out
and Visva Bharati University of Tagore, Gurukul Kangri, Sri
Aurobindo School, and Jamia Milia Islamia Institute were
established.
For the first
195 pages, I thought I was reading a guide left by an examinee
outside his examination hall. From the jacket blurb we get to
know that the author is the President of U.P. Philosophers
Association and has written "more than one hundred research
papers and an equal number of books."
Amazing! Does
it mean a hundred books? It is even more amazing if we look at
the price-tag — Rs. 795. One feels that one is standing
outside a display window of a famous shopping centre where items
are arranged according to the price 99/-, 499/-, 999/-....
Isn’t there a catch? This book succeeds in reducing the reader
to a customer. Even the full-sized art-books with fine coloured
reproductions on art paper are not that expensive.
The formula
seems clear. First mix up a variety of prospectuses culled from
different universities/institutions with some topical essays
given in the undergraduate English composition books. Now put
into the mixture a few extracts relating to the fundamental
rights/directive principles from the college political science
text books, and then add at the tail-end add ‘Saffronization
or Talibanization’ of history texts. Finally, dress up our
pudding with an abundant sprinkling of quotations, and presto!
We have a book just like our own, if not our very own.
The book, as it
stand in the present shape, badly needs editing. An inordinate
number of repetitive expressions like "according to"
(e.g. it is repeated three times in the same small para on page
5), sentences frequently beginning with "The" (e.g. on
page 64, 15 out of the total of 24 sentences begin with
"The"). There are many other language errors (not to
talk of errors of style). There are innumerable
spelling-mistakes. We have to stop keeping their count after
some time. Only one typical specimen from page 64: "The
Government op findia decided ot proceed acording to the
following principles in the fiel of educaiton." Our books
on education are written or published this way — how educative
it is indeed!
Instead of
spending a huge sum on this book, the reader should refer to the
standard editions on Indian thinkers/educationists. Or if one
must read the present book, one can do so profitably by reading
only the quotations of which there are liberal doses.
***
Schools and
Schooling in India: A Comparative and Critical Estimate
By R.N. Sharma, Shubhi Publications, 291, Rs 450.
 A
companion-volume of the book just examined, it tells us tat a
school ought to be child-centred, and should provide a
progressive environment wherein a child can explore his
potential. The role of a headmaster as a major component of
management becomes crucial: "Schools rise to fame or sink
to obscurity as greater or lesser principals have charge of
them" (quotation source not provided). At the same time the
role of teachers is not less significant, since "no people
can rise above the level of its teachers" (from the
document of National Policy in Education, 1986).
We need more
multipurpose schools, and not the elite public schools, to equip
the pupils with vocational skills. The new education policy aims
at providing more vocational skills, so that there may be a
ready stock of middle-level professional man-power in diverse
fields. In addition to it there is also a provision of
population education (the relation between population growth and
national development), environmental education (relating man,
culture, and the bio-physical surroundings), and value
education. Besides dwelling on these basic and important ideas,
the author also makes an interesting observation in the section
that compares the educational systems of different countries. He
notes that in the U.S.S.R. the period of secondary schooling, as
against the current trend of increasing it in other countries,
has been reduced by full one year. This could be achieved by
eliminating the repetition of subjects. It has thus saved
valuable time and reduced social expenditure.
Since the title of this book is
straightforward without any scholarly/pedantic ostentation
(except the subtitle perhaps), we approach this book without any
prejudice. We find that the book delivers what at least its main
title promises — the basic information of many of the
important issues relating to school education in India. Though
the spellings are better here, the price-tag is again
problematic.
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WHEN
hegemonic designs prompted the British to impose a centralised
administrative structure (that included their own gradually
modified system of education) over India, one of the
unexpected offshoots (for the British) was the rise of
nationalism that eventually worked against vested imperial
interests. As an ironic backlash, a unit and a group of
enlightened Indians — many of them with the background of
Western education — emerged. This group sought to define
their notions of Indian nationhood. When these notions got
crystallised, it was only natural to think about the means of
propagating them among the Indian masses to realise them in a
concrete form. Here education had to play a pivotal role.
