CHAPTER-II

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF RIGHT TO EDUCATION

2.1. CONCEPT OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND RIGHT TO EDUCATION

The right to education is a fundamental human right. It is the key to sustainable

development and peace and stability within and among countries, and thus an indispensable

means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the twenty first century,

which are affected by rapid globalization. It is essential, when looking at sustainable

development from a rights perspective to first acknowledge that in order for a person or

society to continue advancing, right to education shall be the basic need of every individual.

Social conditions such as lack of education and information, as well as poor health

conditions, severally limit a person’s ability to work and enjoy personal economic growth and

development. Education helps individuals to achieve their own economic and social and

cultural objectives and helps society to be better protected, better served by its leaders and

more equitable in important ways. Nation as well as human beings will be strengthened if

education is of higher quality. Therefore basic rights must be respected and realized so that

every personal has equal access to resources.

The difference between education and poverty reduction is quite straight and linear as

education is empowering; it enables the person to participate in the development process; it

inculcates the knowledge and skills needed to improve the income earning potential and in

turn the quality of life. Education is an indispensable component of human development,

sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. Education is a means of development

which produces a variety of beneficial externalities, including health improvements, slowed

population, growth, the strengthening of democracy and good governance, enhancement of

capabilities and freedoms. ‘Education is intrinsically important in as much as it directly

improves a person’s effective freedom in basic social interactions. Education facilitates the

1
attainment of employment and other sources of income, and helps persons negotiate and cope

with circumstances that may threaten their livelihood (education as self-defence) education

facilitates public discussion of social needs and encourages informed collective demands

which can produce better governance and greater effectiveness in the use of public resources,

education can help in eradicating specific social problems, such as child labour and

educational achievement among disadvantaged groups increases their ability to resist

oppression, organize politically and later distributive outcome.1

Education should be compulsory primary education to the children, in particular, to

the children from poor, weaker sections, dalits and tribes and minorities is mandatory. The

basic education and employment-oriented vocational educational should be imparted so as to

empower the children within these segments of the society to retrieve them from poverty and,

thus, develop basic abilities to live a meaningful life. Compulsory education, therefore, to

these children is one of the principle means and primary duty of the State for stability of the

democracy, social integration and to eliminate social tensions.’2 There is a dialectical

relationship between educational progress and social change. The spread of education helps

to overcome the traditional inequalities of caste, class and gender, just as the removal of these

inequalities contributes to the spread of education. Education also empowers individuals for

full development of human personality, and participation in society though acquisition of

knowledge, human values and skills. Education helps children to develop creatively and

emotionally and to acquire the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes necessary for

responsible, active and productive citizenship. ‘Education is a process which provides for

intellectual, moral and physical development of a child for good character formation;

mobility to social status; an opportunity to scale equality and a powerful instrument to bring

1
Dreze, J. and Sen, A. India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity, (Oxford University Press,
New Delhi, 1996) p.14-15
2
Per Bhandari J. Bandua Mukti Morcha Vs. Union of India & Others, (1997) 10 SCC 549 p.547 para 11, cf. in
Ashoka Kumar Thakur Vs. Union of India and Others (2008) 6 SCC 1

2
about social change including necessary awakening among the people. Education promotes

intellectual, moral and social democracy. Education lays foundation of good citizenship and

is a principal instrument to awaken the child to intellectual and cultural pursuits and values in

preparing the child for later professional training and helps him to adjust to the new

environment. Education therefore, should be correlated to the social, political or economic

needs of our developing nation fostering secular values, breaking the barriers of casteism,

linguism, religious bigotry and should act as an instrument of social change. Education

kindles its flames for pursuit of excellence, enables and ennobles the young mind to sharpen

his or her intellect more with reasoning than blind faith to reach intellectual heights and

inculcate in him or her to strive for social equality and dignity of person.

In Avinash Nagra Vs. Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti3 the apex court of Judiciary while

explaining the importance of education observed as follows.

“It is well known fact that the education helps to improve the social order. An educated

man has an open mind, a broad outlook, is willing to reconsider issues and make his own

decisions. He is liberated from the tutelage to outmoded notions, to oppressive institutions

and is always willing to learn from others and change whenever it is necessary”.

2.2. Education in Ancient India

In India, education system is different from other countries. The system of education

has been very grand, noble and high in ancient India. There was no country where the love of

learning had so early on origin; and importance exercised had and powerful influence The

discipline of learning, dance music chemistry, medicine, surgery, the art of painting or

sculpture, or dramatics or principles of literary criticism or mechanics or even dancing,

everything was reduced to a systematic whole for passing it on the future generations in a

brief and yet detailed manner.

3
(1997) 2 SCC 534 p.539

3
 Early in this period the art of writing was probably unknown. Even when it is became

known, its use for the preservation of literature was tabooed for a long time; books continued

to live only in the memory of scholars for many a century. Grammar was yet to be developed

and commerce was in a primitive state not requiring any elaborate account keeping. Primary

education in the sense of the knowledge of the 3R’s was therefore both impossible and

unnecessary in the early Vedic period. Education commenced with the learning of the

recitation and mythological songs. Upanayana Sanskara at this time occupied the place of and

was performed at the time when the Vidyarambha Sanskara was performed in later times.

Boys of 5 or 6 could not properly pronounce Vedic Mantras; so even the learning of the

Gayatri Mantra was postponed to a period about a year later than the time of the Upanayana.

India has a long tradition of education both through formally organized institutions

(such as Institutes of Higher Learning at Takshashila and Nalanda) as well as less formal

ones like hermitages or 'ashrams' where pupils were under the complete custodial care of

their Gurus. A mass education movement, however, began during the age of Jainism and

Buddhism when a widespread attempt was made to use the people's spoken language to

impart education related to the needs of people. Primary education on almost modern lines

existed in India as early as 800 B.C. or even earlier.

“The very word ‘aranyaka’ affixed to some of the ancient treatises indicates that they

either originated in, or were intended to be studied in forests.”4

India has believed in the domestic system in both Industry and Education, and not in

the mechanical method of large production in institutions and factories turning out standard

articles.

Sir George Birdwood says of the system that it “has destroyed in Indians the love of

their own literature, the quickening soul of people, and their delight in their own arts, and

4
Besant Annie, India Bond or Free, (London Forgotten Books, 2013) p.94-95

4
worst of all their repose in their own traditional and national religion, has disgusted them with

their own homes, their parents, and their sisters, their very wives, and brought discontent into

every family so far as its baneful influences have reached5

The importance of education was emphasized in the “Neethishatakam” by Bhartruhari

(1st Century B.C) as follows.

a) Education is the special manifestation of the man;

b) Education is the treasure which can be preserved without the fear or loss;

c) Education secure material pleasure, happiness and fame;

d) Education is the teacher of the teacher;

e) Education is God Incarnate:

f) Education secures honour at the State, not money.

g) A man without education is equal to animal6

2.2.1. Education System during Vedic Period

Education is not exotic to India. There is no other country where the love of learning

had so early an origin has exercised so lasting and powerful an influence. “At no period of its

history has been an altogether unenlightened country. Inscriptions on stone and copper, the

palm-leaf records of the temples and in later days, all alike indicate not only the general

knowledge, but also the common use of the art of writing”.7 The system of education

generally advocated, emanated from the Vedas and was called Vedic system of Education

which insisted on a code of conduct both for the student and the teacher and placed the child

under the care and direction of the teacher. The child was to live with his teacher as a

5
Sir John Woodroffe, Bharata Shakti: Collection of Addresses on Indian Culture (Ganesh & Company,
1921) p.75-77
6
“Supreme Court on Children”, Etd by. Vincent Walsh (Human Rights Law Network, (HRLN) Second Edition,
August 2011,) at p.8 as cited in Unnikrishnan J.P. Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993) 1 SCC 645
7
Yogesh kumar singh, History of Indian Education System Etd, Ruchika nath, (A.P.H Polishing Corporation
2005) p.21

5
member of his family and serve him in every way, as the code of student life, the teacher

would advise his student and the students also follow the same.

The Hindu educational system helped the development of personality by cultivating

self-respect, self-reliance, and self-restraint. To support the poor student was the sacred duty

of society, the non-performance of which would lead to dire spiritual calamities. A well-

trained youth, who had finished his education, was to be honoured more than the king

himself. It is but natural that such an atmosphere should develop the student’s self-respect in

a remarkable manner.

After the development of letters, it took the form or writing. Palm leaves and barks of

trees were used for writing. This also helped in spreading the written literature. The highest

knowledge was built up by these seers and revealed and stored up in the hymns. They also

necessarily evolved the methods by which such knowledge could be acquired, conserved, and

transmitted to posterity. These Rishis imparted to their sons the knowledge of the texts they

had personally acquired and such texts were the special property of their family. Each such

family of Rishis was thus functioning like a Vedic school admitting pupils for instruction in

the literature or texts in its possession.

2.2.2. Method of Teaching during Vedic Period

During the Vedic period, the Gurukul method prevailed, in which the student lived in

the house of the Guru, instead of living with his parents. Along with his colleagues, he led a

celibate life and obtained education in the house of the Guru. Initially, in the Vedic period, it

was the teacher who occupied the primary place, but in the later period, it was the student

who occupied the central place in education. The process of education passed through the

three stages of comprehension, meditation, memory and Nidhi-Dhysana. The Gurukuls were

the centers of education, in which education was imparted only by individual character and

ability. The student remained with his Guru for 12 years. There were parishads or committees

6
to satisfy the student thirst for knowledge. Congresses of scholars were also organized from

time to time. In these awards were given to prominent scholars.

Method of teaching was based on apprenticeship and was psychologically sound.

Teaching was oral and habit of independent study was encouraged. Memorizing naturally led

to cramming wherein Vedic verses were initially committed to memory without insight, and

later mulled over and deliberated upon.

The Gurukul system was regarded as very beneficial and was followed wherever

circumstances permitted. But it is not to be supposed that it was universal, or that it embraced

the entire education course. Primary students stayed with their parents. Smirits no doubt

prescribe that immediately after his Upanayana at about the age of 8 or 10; the boy should

migrate to his teacher’s house for the higher education. Rabindranath Tagore’s observation

that the forest and not the town is the fountain head of Indian civilization8 is undoubtedly true

of its religious and philosophical achievements. Vedic study was regarded as an especially

holy affair, and there are indications to show that in early times it was carried on in quiet

places away from the haunts of men. Both the Gopatha and Samavidhana Brahmanas lay

down that a Brahmachari was to enter village only for begging his daily alms; the rest of the

time he was expected to spend in quiet localities on the outskirts of the village settlement.

Later to the Vedic School, the ‘Gurukuls’ emerged out, which describe the four

classic categories of ‘varna’ and broadly deals with the philosophy of life and practices in

learning. Now the study of Vedic literature was indispensable for every boy of the trivanikas.

It was mainly the Brahmins followed by Kshatriyas and Vaishyas who received education at

the Gurukuls. The kings also sent their princes to gurus for training on the art of using

weaponry, Vedas, music, art, physical forms of exercising and defence. The boys from the

lower caste learnt their family trade from their fathers.

8
A.S.Altekar, Education in India, (Isha Books 2009) p.64

7
2.2.3. Education System for Women in Vedic Period

Social refinement and cultural sophistication of a society is indicated by the status that

it accords to its women population. History of social education is the story of women’s

emancipation and empowerment. In spite of their physiological constitution and obligations,

women don’t lag behind men in any intellectual and philosophical pursuit and activity.

Women today occupy a variety of managerial and administrative positions at the highest level

and are considered even more successful and dependable because of their inter-personal

relationship ability, devotion to duty, and professional focusing.

Vedic education was no exception. It was an index of a very progressive and dynamic

and dynamic social order which afforded equal opportunities to women without any gender

bias. However, general education included such subjects of domestic utility that may help

them take up their appointed role of motherhood and related household activities. But this in

no way debarred them from taking up the highest intellectual involvements should they ever

chose to do so. Names such as those Vishwavara, Jooha, Apala, Ghosha, Lopamudra,

Saraswati and others are mentioned in this regard for taking up composing commentaries on

the Veda, perhaps the highest intellectual feat. Names of Maitreyi, Gargey, Kaunanitiki and

others are mentioned for participating in philosophical and intellectual discourses along with

men of equal eminence and brilliance.

The period of learning of about 12 years, was considered as a great sacrifice or a

penance. The Guru identified the capability of his sishya and accordingly imparted

knowledge as well as trained the students in all aspects of education. The education that is

thus begun was called by the significant term Brahmacharya, indicating a mode of life, a

system of practices like simple dress, plain food, a hard bed, a disciplined and celibate life.

Sanskrit was the language of learned men. The stages of instruction were very well defined

up to the age of seven at home, from 8 to 16 at Gurukul. After the Upanayana ceremony, girls

8
were given the same education that was given to boys, but they were permitted to quit early

as they were expected to marry at the age of 16 or 17. The Vedic women also received a fair

share of masculine attention in physical culture and military training. The Rig Veda tells us

that many women were in the army those days, women from the kshatriya caste received

martial arts coursed and arms training. Education was free, but students from well-to-do the

families paid Gurudakshina i.e., a gift to his Guru at the end of his learning period before

living the Gurukul,

2.2.4. Education During Later Vedic Period

Later Vedic period also called as Brahamanic age, the later vedic period was almost a

refined extension of the vedic education except that types of educational institutions, such as

Shakha, Charana, Parishad, Kul and Gotra etc., emerged on the educational scene more texts

classical were created, sutra literature along with Shad Darshan was also created during this

period. Syllabus was determined according to the Varna Ashrama System. Educational

became more restrictive as it was denied to Shudras and women, an equation which

continued, in whatever form, for centuries and became a curse on Indian Society. The Special

Features of this period as follows.

 Physical and mental development

 Fair and just: no discrimination of caste, sex and social status.

 Education was marked by such rituals as Vidya arambha (initiation), upanayana

(presented to teacher), and samavartana (completion).

 The education calendar (session) commenced on the full moon of Shravana, and

culminated on the full moon of Paush corresponding to July-January session of the

calendar. Full moon, therefore, acquired special significance in Hindu Society.

 Free of State control

 Free and Universal education.

9
2.2.5. System of Education during Buddhist Period

Buddhist education came into existence in the 5th century B.C. Brahmans deprived the

common people of their right to education, and hence the emergence of Buddhism granted

the people the freedom to obtain education and to practice their religion themselves. Buddha

imparted to life a perfectly practicable form. Consequently, a practicable religion and a

practical educational system became a variable to the common people.

The abilities of the student in the Buddhist period, every class in society, except the

Chandals, had the right to receive education. It was denied only to the ill, the handicapped,

the dishonoured and those punished for crimes. Education began at the age of 8. Till the age

of 12, the student remained in a state of Shramana. After attaining the age of 20, he was

qualified to become a monk. Education was imparted through the medium of Pali Language.

The contribution of Buddhist education imparted during the period was, in reality, reaction to

the education of the preceding post-vedic period and the Brahman period. During this period,

educational institutions for general education were established; they made provisions for

imparting primary as well as higher education.

2.2.5.1. Educational Rituals

Religion has deeply saturated Hindu life in almost all its phases and the sphere of

education is no exception. Rituals connected with the student’s life are many, and several

aspects of educational theory and practice will become clear to us if we study their nature and

features. It is therefore proposed to devote the opening a critical survey and rationalistic

interpretation of their rituals connected with education.

2.2.5.2. Vidyarambha Sanskara

Vidyarambha Sanskara, which is described by some authorities also as

Aksharasvikanam, was performed, as the name itself would suggest, at the commencement of

10
primary education. Fifth year, which is now usually regarded as suitable for the beginning of

education, was the time prescribed for it. If the ritual had to be postponed account of

unavoidable causes, it had to be performed at least before the Upanayana. An auspicious day

in the Uttarayana (January to July) was to be selected for the purpose. The worship of the

dieties was followed by that of the Guru or the primary teacher, and the boy was them handed

over to him. The teacher used to make the boy write on rice the entire alphabet. Suitable

presents made to the teacher and the Brahamanas invited for the ceremony marked the

termination to the ritual.

Vidyarambha is thus the earliest Sanskara in the student’s life, but it does not, like

Upanayana, go back to hoary antiquity. The authorities, who prescribe and describe the ritual,

are as late as the second millennium of the Christian era. 9 It appears indeed very strange in

that the earlier works life the Grihyasutras and the Dharma-sutras, which have laid down

rituals for such relatively insignificant occasions like Griha-nishkramana and Anna prasana

should have failed to associate the commencement of the primary education with a religious

ceremony. The reason, however, is not far to seek. Although the Grihyasutras, which describe

these rituals, were composed 600-200 B.C., the ceremonies described therein go back to a

period several centuries earlier. At least such is the case with Upanayana, which is referred to

both in the Rig-Veda and the Atharvaveda. At that early time when Upanayana was already

recognized as a sanskara, there was no necessity to prescribe a further Sanskara like

Aksharavikarana (Learning of the alphabet) for the simple reason that the alphabet was then

probably unknown. Upanayana then marked the commencement, not to secondary education

as in later times, but of primary education. Vedic Sanskrit was then the spoken language and

both the alphabet and grammar were yet to be evolved. The education of children, therefore,

naturally commenced with the memorizing of the sacred hymns, which were the most valued

9
Anand Sadashiv Altekar, Education in Ancient India (Isha Books, New Delhi, 2009) p.2

11
possession of the Aryans constituted almost their entire literature. Under these circumstances,

Upanayana which was prescribed at the beginning of the Vedic studies could be the only

ritual to be performed at the commencement of education.

In course of time Vedic Sanskrit ceased to be the spoken language, the sciences of

exegesis and grammar was developed, and the art of writing was invented or became known.

Even the memorizing of the Vedic hymns required some previous elementary education.

Upanayana could therefore no longer mark the beginning of education and a different ritual

called Vidyarambha began to be recommended for the commencement of primary education.

2.2.6. Tonsure Ceremony and Primary Education

The Arthasastra states that the education of the prince ought to commence at the time

of the Chaula ritual. In the Raghuvansa we find prince Raghu learning his alphabet after his

Chaula-Karma. We learn from the Uttara-Rama-Charit that Valmiki commenced the

education of Kusa and Lava after their Chaula-karma, and that the two brothers had mastered

a number of sciences when they began their Vedic studies after their Upanayana at the age of

eleven. This combination of Chaula with the commencement of the primary education was

facilitated by the fact that the time for the ritual, 4 th to 7th year was suitable also for the

commencement of the primary education. The number and nature of the locks of hair to be

kept at the time of the tonsure ceremony had close connection with the Vedic sages with

whom the family was believed to be connected; this may also have suggested the idea that the

celebration of the Chaula-Karma Sanskara should be the occasion of the commencement of

primary education.

2.2.7. Education System During Vedic Period (2000-1200 BC)

Ancient education emerged from the Vedas. Systematic system of education in began

with Vedic period when Aryans had entered into Indian Soil. The Vedic hymns were

composed between 1500 and 1000 B.C. They are four in number Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda,

12
Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. These are not most ancient work of the world composed by

priests, and regarded as inspired by God. They occupy a very important place in Indian life

were the basis of Indian culture. The civilization, culture, life and philosophy of the people in

ancient India are reflected from these Vedas.

During Vedic period, the education was imparted orally by the sages and the scholars

and the information or data was passed from one generation to the next. Here, learning was

pursued not for its own sake. But for the sake and part of religion as it were the main spring

one’s activities. It was sought as the means of self-realization, and to the highest end of life

i.e. Emancipation. Ancient Indian Education was considered as part of the corresponding

scheme of life and values. The scheme takes full account of the fact that ‘life includes death’

and these forms the whole truth. This gives a particular angle of vision, a sense of perspective

and proportion in which the material and the moral, the physical and spiritual, the perishable

and permanent interests and values of life were clearly defined and strictly differentiated.

Education aided in this self fulfillment and not in the acquisition of mere objective

knowledge.

After the development of letters, it took the form or writing. Palm leaves and barks of

trees were used for writing. This also helped in spreading the written literature. The highest

knowledge was built up by these seers and revealed and stored up in the hymns. They also

necessarily evolved the methods by which such knowledge could be acquired, conserved, and

transmitted to posterity. These Rishis imparted to their sons the knowledge of the texts they

had personally acquired and such texts were the special property of their family. Each such

family of Rishis was thus functioning like a Vedic school admitting pupils for instruction in

the literature or texts in its possession. A most extensive passage occurs in Yajur Veda which

enjoins the imparting of Vedic knowledge to all classes, Brahmins and Rajanyas, Sudras,

Anaryas, and Charanas (Vaisyas) irrespective of men or women.

13
 There was no discrimination of sex in the field of studies. There is ample and

convincing evidence to show that they were regarded as perfectly eligible for the privilege of

studying the Vedic literature and performing the sacrifices enjoined them. A particular

mantra was prescribed to beget a learned in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.10 Thus women

enjoyed a high status and dignity. During this period some women were so learned that they

publicly challenged men of letters and held their own in discussions on philosophical and

metaphysical subjects. Thus the general position of women in the Vedic Age was higher than

that in any other ancient society that we know of including Greece and Rome. The mention of

female scholars and sages of the Vedic age corroborates this view in the Vedic lore. This

need not surprise us that twenty-seven women rishis viz. Romasa, Lopamudra, Apala, Kadru,

Visvavra, Ghosha, Juhu, Vagambhrini, Paulomi, Jarita, Sraddha-Kamayani, Urvasi, Sarnga,

Yami, Indrani, Savitiri, Devajami, Nodha, Akrishtabhasha, Sikatanivavari, Gaupayana, Gargi

and Matreyi were responsible for the composition of mantras for Vedas especially the Rig

Veda.

Female ‘Rishis’, the leading philosophers of the time distinguished themselves in

Brahmavidya, the highest knowledge. These highly intelligent and greatly learned women,

who chose the path of Vedic studies, were called ‘Brahmavadinis’, and women who opted out

of education for married life were called ‘sadyovadhus’. The Brahmavadinis were the

products of the educational discipline of brahmacharaya for which women also were eligible.

Women in the Vedic era so excelled in the sphere of education that even the deity of learning

was conceived of as female popularly known as ‘Saraswati’. The Arthava Veda expressly

refers to maidens undergoing the Brahmacharya discipline. The general picture of women in

the hymns of Rig Veda was one of dignity and importance and she enjoyed peace, happiness

and prosperity as a rule. Both Panini and Patanjali refer to women admitted to Vedic study.

10
http://www.kamat.com/database/articles/education_of_women.html last visited on 09/06/2014

14
There were ‘Chhatri’ (lady students) and ‘Upadhyayi’ (Lady Teachers). The right of women

for initiation to Vedic studies by way of upanayana seems to have receded slowly, though we

also find mention of learned women in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Where were students living during their education is the next question to be

considered. Smritis lay down that immediately Upanayana the student should go to his

preceptor and live under the roof. Antevasin, the normal term used to denote the student,

primarily means one who stays close to his teacher, i.e. under his roof. The term

Samavartana, this roughly corresponds to the modern convocation, literally denotes the return

of the student to his own house. Chhandogya Upanishad describes the student as ‘Acharya-

kula-vasin’ ‘one who dwells in the house of his preceptor. The rules which require the student

to rise earlier and sleep later than his teacher, to show him the alms that he gathers at the

midday, and to attend to the night service of his Agnihotra, all these tend to prove that the

student was living under his teacher’s roof.

The education system aimed at the preservation of the ancient culture of the

motherland, all round development of personality, formation of character, development of

healthy and civic aesthetic sense, promotion of vocational efficiency and manifestation of the

sense, promotion of vocational efficiency and manifestation of the divinity of men. Thus the

aim of education was to develop various aspects of life and also to ensure social services 11 it

touches the highest point of knowledge. In order to attain the goal, the whole educational

method was based on plain living and high thinking. As the individual was the chief concern

and center of the education so it was treated as a matter of personal concern and it was not at

all emphasized on mass production like modern education industry. The making of man was

regarded as an artistic and not the mechanical process. According to ancient Indian education

the training of the mind and the thinking process were essential for the acquisition of

11
Mukerji.S.N. Education in India-Today and Tomorrow, (Acharya Book Depot, Baroda 1964) p.1-12

15
knowledge. This conception of education moulds its external form. The methods of education

naturally varied with the capacity of pupils. Self-realization by means of ‘tapas’ was for the

few. So the training imparted at Gurukul was innovative and creative. Under the watchful

guidance of the Guru, talents were triggered, confidence levels were raised, and multiple

intelligence were developed.

2.2.8. Education System during Post Vedic Period

Indian education reached the highest degree of efficiency in the Post-Vedic period.

The Vedic age was an age of creation. But the Post-Vedic was an age of conservation,

complication and criticism. The poets and seers of Vedic age are replaced by priests and

theologians in the Post-Vedic period. The scholars expressed their philosophy of life in the

vast body of literature called the Brahmans, Aranyakas and Upanishads. The Brahmans deal

with devotion and prayer to Brahma. They are composed in prose. Each of these Brahmanas

was attached to an Aranyakas or forest portion. The lower caste people were explicitly

prohibited from the study of the Vedas and it reached to the extent that even the mere act of

hearing the Vedic hymns by low caste men was declared a sacrilege and great crime. It was

mainly the Brahmins followed by Kashtriyas that can study Vedas and received education at

the Gurukuls. Lower cast people were not permitted to study and subject outside their

occupation and they had learnt their family trade from their fathers. Manusmriti prescribed

severe punishment not only for the lower caste men, who dared to study Vedas, but also those

who dared to teach them.

Actually, Gurukul was never open to the majority of masses. About 85 to 90 percent

of population was outside the pale of Gurukuls. Only the 15 percent population was being

catered by Gurukuls. There were no criteria for admission apart from the caste and whims

and fancies of the teacher. The Vedic knowledge was not imparted to all classes; various

examples of denial of admission to very meritorious candidates on the basis of caste are seen.

16
Ekalavya, to whom not only the guru Dronacharya denied admission but demanded his thumb

as ‘Gurudakshina’ for education not imparted by him. Karna who got admission to

Parashurama’s class which was exclusively reserved for the ‘Brahmins’. On false statement

of caste benefit of his knowledge, labeled as unlawfully obtained, was withdrawal when his

caste became known, which ultimately lead to his death.

For centuries India had been famous for philosophy, literature, and ancient schools of

learning. They are inseparably associated with the religion which dominated her people and

have profoundly affected the course and progress of education. In any society, however

advanced primitive, education may be regarded as a process of adjustment to environment. Its

nature is determined by the inherited powers and capabilities of the recipients as well as by

the environment in which they grow up. It is a known fact now that the Aryans were not the

original inhabitants of India. They entered India by some passes and gorges between the

mountains lying on the north west of India. Those who first entered India were highly

intellectual people and were remarkable for their mainly virtues. The Aryans came not in one

batch but in a number of waves of invasion spreading over several centuries. With each

invasion the older tribes were pushed further east or south by the new tribe. The ancient sages

of India not only composed Vedic hymns and performed religious sacrifices but cultivated

their agricultural lands and when occasion arose fought wars with aggressive tribes. These

wars kept up their fighting spirit for a long time. But when they settled won in the vast plain

of Northern India very little scope was left for developing their martial spirit and manly

virtues.

History tells us that from very early times people in India lived in some form or the

other of organized society. Even the pre-Aryan races had a system of public administration.

Family was the basis of primitive Aryan state. Several families coalesced in the process of

evolution and grew into the clan, the clan in the course of time expanded into the tribe and

17
ultimately the tribe merged in the state. “The head of the family became the chief of the clan,

then the leader of the tribe, and ultimately the ruler of the state. In the course of time the state

outgrew its original limitations and became national.”12

In an ancient Indian state the ruler was never regarded as the head of the religion; the

primary duty of the ruler was to look after the social well-being of the people. Religious

ministrations were left in the hands of the priests. This led to the position that “the political

status of individuals was independent of their religious beliefs and convictions.” 13 As regards

the sphere of state action we find that it was originally confined simply to the maintenance of

internal order, and then it assumed the administration of justice. “The great drawback of the

State in ancient India was that the rights of man as man were not fully recognized.

Individuals had rights and duties not as component parts of the body politic but as members

of estates or classes in society; and consequently, as we have already seen, the rights and

obligations varied according to the class to which the individuals belonged.14

There is hardly any record of what the Hindu and Buddhist kings did for education

before the third century B.C. there was, of course, the old Brahmanical system of education

prevailing in the country. According to this system the pupils were required to spend a good

many years, from the age of six to twenty one, in the house of their preceptors. In some

institutions there were not even allowed to come back to their parents or guardians during the

period of the instruction. But every citizen thought it was his duty to help towards the upkeep

of such institutions. It was as much a duty of the rich, as of the poor. And very few shirked

their responsibilities. It need not be discussed here what was the nature of the education they

received in such schools and colleges. But it must be noted that education was not universal

but was confined to particulars classes.

12
P.N. Banerjea Public Administration in Ancient India, (Atlantic Publishers, December 2009) p. 38-40
13
Ibid. p . 39
14
Ibid. p . 40

18
 There were three types of institutions viz., the ‘parishads,’ the ‘tols’, and the

‘pathasalas.’ The parishads were assemblies of the elders almost exclusively Brahmins of the

community. Their function was primarily to assist the kings in the interpretation of the law

and usages. The tols were were the second type of these institutions for imparting education,

and they had residential quarters attached to them. In the early Hindu period the word

‘Matha’ meant a residence of pupils and ascetics. The mathas which used to take in only

students gradually came to be called tols. The tol as a rule admitted only the Brahmin

students. A student remained at the tol for eight to twelve years from the age of about the

years. In a few tols the teacher did not live with the pupils but came every day early in the

morning and. stayed till sunset. The senior students used to act us guardians of the juniors in

his absence. But the teacher also provided the pupils with food and clothing. Each tol used to

take in about twenty five students that was possibly the number which one teacher could

manage. As regards financial help the teacher depended entirely on the generosity of the

public, the more famous a teacher became, the more he used to get grants and presents from

the benevolent rulers and citizens.

2.2.9. Education for All

Since education was considered as the best agency for improving the society and the

individual, it was naturally insisted that it should be available to all. “It was not regarded as

the case was in ancient Greece, as the privilege of those lucky few who had the necessary

leisure to devote to its acquisition”15. Individuals who do not have ‘upanayana’ with the

prescribed age limits are condemned as ‘savitri – patia’ and vratyae i.e. devoid of savitri

mantra and vrata or now of Bramacharya and hence degraded. The punishment of them was

total social boycott.

15
A.S.Altekar, Education in India, (Isha Books, 2009) p.23

19
 To provide education to the largest number of people in the society, Upanayana ritual

which marked the beginning of religious and education was made obligatory for all the

Aryans, both males and females. It was further declared that a man can discharge his debt to

ancestors not merely by procreating sons but by providing for their proper education. Every

Aryan, i.e. every Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishyas gradually ceased to perform Upanayana

and sank to the level of the Shudras. This gave a great set back to their education as far as the

professional education was concerned, it was ensured to almost all persons anxious to receive

it, when the caste system become hereditary; every family was expected to train its children

and bring them up in the traditions of its profession.

2.2.10. Hindu and Buddhist Education

In early times Hindu civilization remained confined to the north-western part of India.

Hence we notice that Kashmere and Badarikasram for a longtime enjoyed the reputation of

being the cradle of Hindu civilization. In the 6th century B.C. Takshasila (modern Taxilla near

Peshawar) became the chief centre of learning. The King Bimbisara (582 to 554 B.C.) helped

the institution with grants, because it is said that he was once cured of some painful diseases

by the school of medicine at Takshasila.

Nothing further is known as to the educational history of the country till we come to

the reign of Asoka (269 to 229 B.C) and we get a very interesting account of what Asoka did

for education in Vincent Smith’s book, ‘Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor in India “There are

taken to publish the imperial edicts and commemorative records by incising them in

imperishable characters, most skillfully executed, on rocks and pillars situated in great cities,

on main lines of communication, or at sacred spots frequented by pilgrim, implies that a

knowledge of reading and writing was widely diffused, and that many people must have been

able to read the documents. The same inference may be drawn from the fact that the

inscriptions are composed not only in may learned scholastic tongue, but in vernacular

20
dialects are intelligible to the common people, and modified when necessary to suit local

needs. It is probable that learning was fostered by the numerous monasteries, and that the

boys and girls in hundred of villages learned their lessons from the monks and nuns, as they

do now in Burma from the monks. Asoka should be noted, encouraged nunneries, and makes

particular reference more than once to female lay disciples as well as to nuns, it likely that the

percentage of literacy among the Buddhist population in Asoka’s time was higher than it is

now in many provinces of British India. The returns of 1901 show that in the United

Provinces of Agra and Oudh, which include many great cities and ancient capitals, the

number of persons per 1000 able to read and write amounts to only 57 males and 2 females;

In Burma, where the Buddhist monasteries in the days of their glory must have been,

on the whole, powerful agencies for good in India, and that the disappearance of Buddhism

was a great loss to the country”16.

Education evidently was diffused widely, especially among the Brahmins and

numerous Buddhist monks; and learning was honoured by the government. King Harsha (606

to 647 A.D) was not only a liberal patron of literary merit, but was himself an accomplished

calligraphist and an author of reputation. About the middle of the eighteen century A, D.,

Gopala, who was then King of Bengal, founded schools attached to the monastery of

Odantapuri, or Uddandapura. At the close of the eighth century A.D., King Dharma pala

founded a monastery at Vikramsila which is said to have included 107 temples and six

colleges. Among the subject studied were grammar, metaphysics including logic and

ritualistic books.

The Pathsalas were the real elementary school in ancient India, imparting instructions

in reading, writing and Arithmetics. These schools are still very numerous throughout the

country. One can possibly trace the history of village education in India to the beginnings of

16
Vincent Smith, Asoka, (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1920) p.138

21
the village community. The schoolmaster was an office of the community. Either rent-free

lands were assigned to him or he was given some grains out of the village harvest. The early

school master was of course a Brahmin. His chief function was to offer worship to the idol

the village diety on behalf of all classes of people who lived in the village. His subsidiary

function was to impart instruction to the children of the higher castes in the three R’s in the

vernacular together with precepts of morality as embodied in compilations and enforced by

Puranic legends. Vyakaran (Grammar), Abhidhan (Wordbook or Dictionary), and Kavya

(poetry) in Sanskrit, were also taught to the most advanced students of the superior castes.

The pathsala teacher, however, could charge fees for his tuition or could received offerings in

kind from the scholars and parent.

2.3. Education In Medieval India

The rise of Mohammedanism is one of the most extraordinary events in the history of

the world, it changed the whole history of India, just as in another way, Christianity had

changed the history of Europe, within a century after the death of Mohamed, the prophet

(570-632 A.D.). The Arab conquered extensive territories and in 711 A.D. the empire of

Islam extended from the frontiers of China to the shores of Atlantic. However the beginning

of the Eighth century A.D. marked the vent of Mohammedan invasions in India. The Arabs

and the Turks brought many new customs and institutions in India of thee one remarkable

was the Islamic Pattern of education, which in many respects vastly differed from the

Brahmanic and the Buddhist systems.

The Muhammadans began to come to India in the eight century A.D. but the first real

invasion for aggressive purpose took place under the leadership of Mahmud of Ghazni in the

early part of the eleventh century. He is credited as a great patron of learning. Briggs,

Ferishta says that in the neighbourhood of a magnificent mosque of Ghazni was founded “a

university supplied with a vast collection of curious books in various languages. It contained

22
also a museum of natural curiosities. For the maintenance of this establishment, he

appropriated a large sum of money besides a sufficient fund for the maintenance of the

students and proper persons to instruct youths in arts and science.” 17The aim of Muslim

Education in the Sultanate and Mughal period in India was multifarious and they differed

with different rulers. The aim of education during the reign of Akbar was to organize the

Nation on a new pattern by harmonizing political, during the reign of Aurangzeb it aimed at

spreading Islamic education and culture by destroying Hindu culture and education. Thus

whole educational system was saturated with religious ideals which influenced the aim.

In the Muslim period learning was held in high esteem and the learned were loved and

respected all over the country. Important posts of the state like the post of judges, lawyers,

commanders of the army and ministers were filled up from the educated classes. Many

Hindus were attracted towards Muslim education with a view to get these employment

facilities. Thus Muslim education prepared the students for practical life.

When the Muslims entered India they were surprised to see the civilization, culture,

social order and the political knowledge of the people of the country. Therefore, they

introduced their own education system to gain knowledge of this culture and also to create

some political circumstances that might strengthen their role in this country.

The Muslim ruler helped in the spread of education in this country. They patronized

scholars by giving those jobs in their courts and opened many schools and colleges, imparted

education in different types of educational institutions based on the needs and potential of

each pupil. The types of institutions included makabas, madarsahs, khanaqahs, durgahs and

karkhanas.

The ‘maktab’ is a primary school often attached to a mosque. The content of the

education given in ‘maktabs’ had been very different in different places. Instruction in those

17
J.M.Sen, History of Elementary Education In India, (Cosmo publications India, 2002,) p.20

23
portions of the Koran which a Muslim is expected to know by heart in order to perform his

devotions and other religious functions was, as today is, a common feature of education in all

‘maktabs’. Sometimes instruction in reading, writing and simple arithmetic was also included

in the curriculum. Primary education was also carried on in private houses. The ‘maktabs’

attached to the mosque was probably the most permanent of Muslim educational institutions

in India.

‘Madrasahs’ were schools for higher learning. These two were generally attached to

mosques. Some of them rose to the status of universities. The course in ‘madrasahs’ included

grammar, rhetoric, logic, theology, literature, and science, certain subjects were more

cultivated in some centers than in others.

The initiation ceremony was quite colorful. It was as ‘Bismillah Khani.’ It means the

child is introduced to education after invoking god. It was similar to that of Upanayana of the

Brahmanic and Pahajja of the Buddhist periods. This ceremony in the case of girls was called

‘Zarfishani’ that is shrinking of gold.

The medieval education in India emphasized personal relationship between the

teacher and the taught as in the ancient Hindu and Buddhist education. It was individual

education rather than mass education. It was personal, and based on the family system. A

teacher had a small group of students, and he imparted instructions according to the level of

intelligence of pupils, talking and listening to them, encouraging and praising, scolding and

punishing them. Teachers were held in high esteem and their pupils considered in a privilege

to know their example.

Perisan, which was also the court language of the Muslim Kings, was the popular

medium of instruction. The study of Arabic, the language of the Koran was compulsory for

Muslim. The instructional method emphasised rote memory and writing skills mostly

practiced on oblong boards (takhtis) with red pens.

24
 Medieval Indian education stressed the coordination of religious and non-religious

(general) education. While general education was born out of practical needs, religious

education stemmed from religious fanaticism. Curriculum at the elementary stage was

confined to reading, writing and arithmetic and religious education. At the higher stage, the

curriculum was comprehensive enough to include in it the study of ethics, divinity,

astronomy, algebra, geometry, and physics, medicine, natural philosophy, rhetoric, law,

rituals, accounts, agriculture, economic and history. For Hindus, their own religious books

were prescribed. They were also allowed to study in Madrasahs and many of them studied

Persian and acquired mastery in it. Science started receiving importance over philosophy

during the medieval period. The study of arts and crafts assumed importance and these

subjects came to be taught in separate schools run under the patronage of the ruler or of

private individuals.

Theological curriculum, Dars-e-Nizami, followed all over India in the 18th century

continues till date in Muslim theological schools. The Arabic University at Deoband in India

has maintained the high tradition of theological studies, and many Muslim scholars go there

even today from India and other Muslim countries.

The method of teaching, as in the Brahmanical and Buddhist system was mainly oral.

Naturally cramming and memorizing were prevalent then. It is interesting to mention that

Emperor Akbar desired that for effective teaching every school by should first learn to write

the letters of the alphabet.

During the Muslim period, there was a provision for vocational, technical, and

professional education; Professor Weber says “The Skill of the Indians in the production of

delicate woven fabrics, in the mixing of colours, the beautiful shawls, the painted wares and

the gold and silver ornaments of India are ample proof of the fact that there were arrangement

for artistic, vocational and technical education the presence of so many magnificent building

25
shows that the art of stone cutting had reached its climax. Feroz Shah Tughlaq maintained a

regular department of industries.

Women’s Education was almost totally neglected in the Muslim period. The ‘Purdah’

System which shut up all Muslim women, except young girls, in seclusion, made their

education a matter of great difficulty. We have, however, evidence that sometime young girls

were taught in schools but their leaving school at an early age must have prevented their

education being carried very far. It is not unlikely that many, who received some education,

lapsed into illiteracy. In the harems of kings and nobles sometimes some attempt was made to

educate the ladies who lived within, and some of them attained distinction. In this connection

we may mention the name of Sultan Raziya, Chand Sutana, Gul-Badan, Begam Satina

Sultana (Niece of Humayun who became one of Akbar’s wives), Mohal Anaga (Nurse of

Akbar), Nur Jahan, Jahanara and Zebunnisa “it is probable that many other royal noble ladies,

also received some education behind the ‘Purdah’, but even so they were few compared with

the great mass of Muslim women who received no education at all, except a domestic training

in the performance of the duties of the household.”No annual examination of the modern type

was conducted. Evaluation was a built-in, continuous process. Promotions were based on

assessment by the teachers themselves. Degrees came to be awarded for specialised and in-

depth study in various branches of learning.

Muslim education during the medieval period was not only patronized and subsidized

by the state but was also guided and controlled by it. The office of the Sadar or Sheikh-ul-

Islam (Minister for Ecclesiastical and Judicial Affairs) had the responsibility of coordinating

the education imparted in the institution run by the state and private individuals. There were

large estates and endowments for the maintenance of educational institutions administered by

the Sheik-ul-Islam. The state schools employed salaried teachers and education was free for

26
poor and promising students. In addition, orphanages were maintained by the princes and the

amirs. However, schools held in private house charged fees generally payable in kind.

2.4. Education in Modern India

The English when they arrived in India started their most important colony in Madras.

The earliest record that one could trace regarding the educational work of the English settlers,

chronicles the fact that in 1677 Ralph Ord came out to India as a school master for a salary of

£5018 per annum. This salary was then almost equal to that of a junior member of the

Council. He was a protestant and besides teaching his own religion he taught the element of

English.

In 1687 the Court of Directors asked the Governor of Madras to form a Municipality

for the town of Madras. In their letter of 28th September of the same year they made the

following suggestions regarding the administration of education are municipal authorities.

The Court of Aldermen may, by virtue of the powers granted by our intended charter assess

and levy a rate upon the inhabitants for the building of one or more free schools for teaching

the English tongue to other Indian Children and for salaries to the school masters, and by

degrees of many other good works. Their constitution being so framed that our President and

Council shall always influence their debates and resolutions.

Till the end of seventeenth century more than one company had been carrying on

trade in India with charters from the British Government. In the early years of the eighteenth

century they amalgamated and formed the “United Company of Merchants trading to the East

Indies.” For the purpose of this amalgamation the authorities in England had to give them a

new charter. For the instruction of the children of the company servants the Court of

Directors asked the company to provide school masters in all their garrisons and factories.

But even then the Company did nothing to help in that direction.

18
Arthur Howell, Education in British India prior to 1854 and in 1870-71, (Published by the Superintendent
of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1872) p-3

27
 The Danish missionaries came to Madras in 1717 and with the permission of the

government opened two charity schools in the city of Madras one for the Portuguese and the

other for the Tamil Children. In the same year the company also started a school for Indian

Children at Cuddalore. This was the beginning of the Anglo-Vernacular system of schools

maintained by the government in the Madras Presidency. The people of madras did not like to

join the mission schools in large numbers; they preferred joining the government schools.

The work of the early missionaries, occasionally aided by Government’s grants, was

particularly interesting as the beginning of the now widely-prevalent system of education,

especially in South India. The first project of native education which can in any way be

ascribed to the Government was that of Mr. Sullivan, resident at Tanjore, who in 1784

propounded a scheme for setting up English Schools for the higher classes of every province.

The introduction of British rule in India brought with it western civilization and

culture into the country. It was unique for political consolidation, social regeneration and

intellectual awakening. A process of change began in Indian way of life, which still continues

none can foresee. The common heritage and rich historical traditions in the light of western

education fostered a sense of oneness and nationally among the Indians especially the

Hindus. A new sign of revival was marked in Hinduism. Western education helped the

Hindus in this direction rather than shaking their faith in religion of their forefathers. The

educated Hindu leaders began feeling the need of eliminating superstitions and meaningless

rituals and rendering a new interpretation to old scriptures. Thus western civilization and

culture challenged all old values and beliefs of our country.

The English education greatly influenced the vernacular literature of India. People of

India came in contact with western literatures through English language and received several

brilliant specimens in different branches of literature. Sanskrit language was also restored

though English language. When William Jones came to India in 1733 as the Chief Justice of

28
Supreme of Calcutta, he founded Bengal Asiatic Society for the study of oral literature.

The Government of India may be said to have been born with the Regulating Act of

1773 which designated the Governor in Council of Bengal as the Governor-General in

Council of Bengal and gave him a limited authority over the Governors of Bombay and

Madras. This authority was substantially increased by the Pitt’s India Act of 1784. But prior

to 1833, education in India had made but little progress and the Governor-General of Bengal

did little to control or directs the educational policies of the other parts of India. At this time,

therefore, ‘education’ may be said to have been a ‘provincial’ matter, subject only to the

distant coordinating authority of the Court of Directors in England.

No authoritative account exists of the extent of education in India during the 16 th, 17th

and 18th centuries. The Europeans powers during these years were too busy with trade and

with consolidating their own position to think of the education of the Indian people. As late as

in 1822 Sir Thomas Munro in his famous minutes said: “We have made geographical surveys

of our province; we have investigated their resources, and endeavoured to ascertain their

population; but little or nothing has been done to learn the state of education. We have no

record to show the actual state of education throughout the country.”19

In Charter Act of 1813 the British East India Company was made responsible for the

education of the Indian people; inquiries into the state of Indigenous education were made in

the Presidencies of Madras, Bombay and Bengal. The indigenous schools were two types;

schools of higher learning and elementary schools were again divided as Hindu Schools of

Higher Learning, Muslim Schools of Higher Learning, Hindu elementary schools.

In 1829 Dr. Wilson estimated that there were 25 tols in Nadia with strength of 500 or

600 schools. The East India Company adopted a mistaken policy, for which mass education

was obstructed. This policy is popularly known as the ‘downward filtration theory’ which

19
B.N.Dash, History of Education in India, (Dominant Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, 2011)
p.196

29
evolved between 1780 and 1833. According to this policy an attempt was made to educate

only the higher class, so that education filters down from the classed to the masses.

The Charter Act of 1833 introduced a unitary system of Government. Under this

arrangement, all revenues were raised in the name of the Central Government and all

expenditure needed its approval. The Provincial Governments could not spend even one rupee

or create a post, however small, without the approval of the Government of India which also

was the only law-making body for the country as a whole. In other words, all executive,

financial and legislative authority was exclusively vested in the Central Government and the

Provinces merely acted as its agents.

2.4.1. Macaulay’s Minute (1835)

The task of interpreting clause of 43 of Charter Act of 1813 was given to Lord

Macaulay20 he submitted a long minute in 1835 to Lord William Bentinck, the Governor

General of India. Female Education was actively supported by emphasizing that women’s

education was something that could not be ignored. The destiny of education in India was

actually shaped by this minute. The beginning of British system of education in India can be

traced with the Macaulay minute. Macaulay was the first to ridicule and criticizes the eastern

system of education and culture. He was in favour of education of English literature and

science. Indian literature was criticized heavily as is evident from the following writing of

Macaulay. He opined ‘a single shelf of good European library was worth the whole native

literature of Indian and Arabia’, and all the historical information which has been collected

from all the books written Sanskrit language is less valuable then what may lie found in the

most paltry abridgements used at preparatory schools in England. Referring the growing

popularity of English, Macaulay said ‘We are forced to pay our Arabic and Sanskrit students

while those who learn English are willing to pay us’

20
Supra note 11 p.12

30
 About Indian education he said “It was the duty of England to teach Indians what was

good for their health and not what was palatable to their taste” He strongly advocated the

cause of English literature and science. He recommended the English language as the

medium of instructions and rejected Indian language on account of their under developed and

lacking scientific vocabulary. He was of the opinion that it is very difficult to educate the

Indian masses, in the beginning only the selected few can be educated and through filtration by

and by education will reach the masses. The politics lurking behind the objective of the

“Minute” is evident in the scheming Macaulay’s clarification:

“We must do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the

millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in taste,

in opinions, words and intellect.”

The British were actually looking for services that would not only be inexpensive, but

also efficient and the suitable ones were the colonized Indians. Macaulay was dreaming of

breeding an economically flourishing colony, generating enormous wealth as well as cheap

labour. The destiny of education in India was actually shaped by this Minute. Actually,

Macaulay wanted to create a class or people among Indians who understand British language

and respect its culture. Who could contribute their skills to carry out the work of administration

and thus would help in strengthening the British establishment. Thomas Macaulay’s in famous

‘Minute on Indian Education’ (1835) summarizes both the clear and concealed agendas for

such a policy.

In 1835, Lord William Bentinck revitalized the earlier Charter Act with this New

Education Policy which determined that English should be the official language of the courts,

diplomacy and administration. Prior to this Persian had been the accepted language of

diplomacy, Bentinck’s motive was ostensibly to ‘regenerate’ society, but the ramifications

were boundless. From this movement on only those with western style education and

knowledge of English were eligible for government employment or for a career in public life.
31
 Education despatch of 1854 a most comprehensive, significant document of

educational importance was passed by East India Company, it suggest a well planned system

of education. It included provisions for the establishments of universities of Bombay,

Calcutta and Madras; the creation of education departments in each provinces, a network of

graded schools throughout India and colleges in all parts of the country; grants-in-aid to

private schools includes Christian missionary institution.

Indians in general in that age were too orthodox to think of female education. in

deference to Indian wishes the British Government so long did not show any interest in

education of females. But the despatch did not ignore this problem. It observed: ‘the

importance of female education in India cannot be over rated.’ It recommended frank and

cordial support of the Government to the cause of female education and said that schools for

females were to be included among those to which grants-in-aid might be given. The

despatch put importance on vocational instruction and to that end suggested the need of

establishing vocational colleges and schools of industry, training of teachers; encouragement

to the education of women; and employment of educated Indians in government services. It

also advocated the extension of elementary education through the direct instrumentality of

State. This policy statement continued to govern all educational developments in India till

1882.

In 1870, however, Lord Mayo introduced a system of administrative decentralization

of authority under which the Provincial Governments were made responsible for all

Expenditure on certain services inclusive of education and were given, for that purpose, a

fixed grant-in-aid and certain sources of revenue. Education thus became a ‘provincial subject’

for purposes of day-to- day administration. The whole of India had been conquered, the so

called sepoy, mutiny was suppressed and the British rule was fully consolidated in all parts of the

country. On the other hand, the weaknesses of the system which led to delays and wastefulness

in expenditure and created an irresponsible attitude in Provincial Governments came to the

32
surface and began to upset. A move

33
for decentralization was, therefore, inevitable and it came none too soon. But it has to be

remembered that the Central Government still retained large powers of control over it. For

instance, both the Central and Provincial Legislatures had concurrent powers to legislate on

all educational matters.

It must be made clear however that, when necessary, the Government of India did not

hesitate to intervene, to review educational progress, and to issue such directives to

Provincial Governments as it felt to be necessary. The first such occasion to intervene arose

when there was an insistent demand that the progress of education in India since the

education dispatch of 1854 should be reviewed.

2.4.2. Report of Hunter Commission 1882

Twenty eight years of after the Despatch of 1854 the Government of India appointed

an education commission. The first Indian Education Commission was established under the

Chairmanship of Sir William Hunter in 1882 for the periodic revision of the policy of the

education which gave wide and comprehensive recommendation on education in the Indian

context. Elementary education was then imparted through two agencies: (i).indigenous

elementary schools; and (ii) new type of primary schools. Recommendations of the Despatch

as regards elementary education were of general and not specific nature. But the commission

of 1882 made specific and pointed in recommendation in this respect. These were: First,

strenuous efforts of the state should be directed in a large measure before to the cause of the

elementary education of the masses. Secondly, local funds should be exclusively set apart for

primary education and it should have large claim on provincial revenues. Thirdly, primary

education should be simplified made over to the District and Municipal boards. Fourthly,

adequate normal schools should be provided for the training of teachers. Fifthly, in the

primary schools education in each province should be simplified and there should be large

induction of practical subjects like agriculture, industrial, arts, menstruation, accounts, etc. in the

curriculum. Lastly, in matters relating to grant-in-aid the system

34
of payment by results should be adopted. On the submission of its report, Government of

India issued orders laying down a New National Policy on Education. Its main features were

emphasis on the spread of primary education and education among girls, scheduled castes and

scheduled tribes; to raise third level entry; full encouragement to Indian private enterprise in

secondary and higher education; creation of local bodies at the District and Taluk levels and

their association with the administrative of primary education. These policies continued to be

in for till the end of the nineteenth century.

The commission noticed that the aided schools were not sympathetically treated and

were not accepted as equals of government schools in matters of status and privileges. To

ameliorate the individual distinction, the commission made the following recommendation.

a. Institution under private management should be frankly accepted as an essential part of

the general scheme of education.

b. With a view to securing the cooperation of Government and non-Government

institutions, the managers of the latter should be consulted on matters of general

educational interests.

c. Students of non-government institutions should be treated on equal terms to that of

the students of government schools. Scholarships, and rewards conferred by

government should be kept open to students of all schools.

During the period of British India Under Crown the day-to-day administration of

Education was delegated to the Provincial Governments and the Government of India continued

to function as a Federal Government with five distinct functions, which came to be recognized,

viz., the functions of (1) policy-making, (2) clearing house of information, (3) research and

publications, (4) co-ordination and (5) financial assistance with the coming into force of the

Government of India Act, 1919, however, the position changed completely. The basic idea

underlying this Act was that the Government of India should continue to be responsible to the

Secretary of State for India; that the functions of the Provincial Governments should be
35
divided

36
into two parts the reserved part being responsible to the Government of India and the transfer

being under the control of elected Ministers responsible to the Provincial Legislatures. As a

corollary to this decision, it was also agreed that the Government of India have very little or

no control over the transferred departments because the Ministers could not be

simultaneously responsible to the Government of India as well as to their elected legislatures.

These were basic political decisions and it was rather unfortunate that the division of authority

in education between the Government of India and the Provincial Governments had to be

made on these political considerations and no fundamental educational issues involved.

The Central Government was indifferent in providing education in India after 1923 it

results in following consequences. (1) The Education Department was not more independent in

its existence. Hence it was amalgamated with other departments under the control of

Government of India. (2) Central Advisory Board of Education which lost his value and it

was vanished and (3) The Central Bureau of Education lost its operation. The Grants

provided by the Centre to the provinces for development of education was completely

disappeared and also legislative powers were taken away by the centre. Publishing the annual

and quinqueenial reviews of the progress of education in India was eradicated.

The Hartog Committee, 1929

A Committee related inquired into all aspects of education in India. The government

established the committee to monitor the present education system prevailing in India under

the Chairmanship of Sir Philip Hartog, thereafter it was called as “The Hartog Committee”.

He strongly criticized this unhappy position and said as follows:

“In 1931-32 there were 201470 recognized primary schools with 94,54,360 pupils but

in 1936-37, the number of recognized primary schools fell down 1,97,227 where as the

number of pupils increased 1,05,41,790. The wastage also continued as even before. The main

defects which caused such conditions were:

37
 a. The incomplete structure of a large number of schools.

b. The inadequate supply of teachers which necessitates plural class teaching.

c. The lack of qualified teachers.

d. The ineffective teaching and supervision

e. Admission to school throughout the year

f. Irregular attendance

g. Faculty administration by local bodies

h. Increase in population

i. Primary education was “neither based on the psychology of the child nor responsive to

the need of national life.”21

The Government of India Act, 1935, introduced some constitutional reforms and

Congress ministers were formed in 7 out of 11 provinces. In 1937 Mahatma Gandhi has

expression to his ideas about the problem of education in India and wanted that education

should be given through “a profit-yielding vocation” so that it could become self-supporting.

The All India Educational conference held at Wardha in October, 1937 discussed the ideas of

Gandhiji and passed the following resolutions.

a. Free and compulsory education is provided for 7 years on a nationwide scale.

b. The process of education throughout this period should centre round some form of

manual and productive work and all other training to be given to the child should be

integrally related to the central handicrafts.

c. The medium of instruction should be the mother tongue.22

The Central Advisory Board of Education was appointed in 1938, a committee known

as the Kher Committee to consider this scheme. A second Wardha Education Committee was

appointed by Central Advisory board of Education (CABE) the principle of giving free

education

38
21
Anand Sadashiv Altekar, Education in Ancient India, (Isha Books, New Delhi, 2009) p .283
22
Ibid. p.284

39
for a period of 7 years (6 to 14 years) on a nationwide scale stands fully accepted. Similarly,

the principle of making mother tongue, the medium of instruction and moving the process of

education “centre round some form of manual and productive work”, have been agreed upon.

In 1944 the CABE brought out a plan for “post-war educational department in India.” This

report popularly known as Sargent Report, recommend that:

(i) “a system of universal compulsory and free education for all boys and girls between

the age of 6 and 14 years should be introduced as speedily as possible.”

(ii) “The standards of the training, recurring and conditions of service of teachers should

be raised.”

(iii)“A large number of women teachers shall also be trained.”

Again at the Sevagram Conference in 1945, Gandhiji put before our country his entire

scheme of pre-basic, basic, post-basic and adult education programme. He designed pre-basic

education for children under six-year age. At the stage principles of sanitation, hygiene,

nutrition, work and helping parents in home were emphasized. Basic education was meant for

the children under age group seven to fourteen and was a seven year plan. Post-basic education

was designed for the students of age-group fourteen and eighteen. It was an extension of the

basic education which laid greater emphasis on self-sufficiency. Education at the university

stage aimed at social service and community improvement. Gandhiji reintroduced the Wardha

Scheme Basic National Education in 1947.

2.5. The System of Education in after Independence

Soon after the attainment of Independence, the problem of the role of the Government

of India in education came up for discussion again when the Constitution was being framed.

The thinking of the framers of the Constitution on this subject seems to have been influenced

by two main considerations: (1) The general model adopted in the U.S.A.; and (2) the

recommendations of the Hartog Committee. As in the U.S.A., therefore, a fundamental

40
decision was taken to treat

41
education as a State subject and also to vest the residuary powers in education in the State

Governments by making a specific enumeration of powers reserved to the Government of India

in this field. Entry 11 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, therefore, lays down

that “education including universities, subject to the provisions of Entries 63, 64, 65 and 66 of

List I and Entry 25 of List III” should be a State subject; and the entries which give authority

to the Government of India in education were worded as follows:

In respect of Primary education, however, the Constitution has made an exception on

the lines recommended by the Hartog Committee. The intimate relationship between the

provision of a minimum of free and compulsory education for all children and the successful

working of a democracy which the Constitution decided to create is obvious. The Constitution,

therefore, makes the following provision as a directive principle of State policy under Part IV:

“45. The State shall Endeavour to provide within a period of ten years from the

commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until

they complete the age of 14 years.”

The expression ‘State’ which occurs in this article is defined in Article 12 to include

“the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the

States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the

Government of India.” The Federal Government is, therefore, under a constitutional obligation

to participate in the programme of providing free and compulsory education for all children until

they complete the age of 14 years.

Much legislation were passed to provide free and compulsory education for primary

education but could not be achieved successfully .At this stage, many ways want to know

what happened to the previous legislations for compulsory education. It is a matter of concern

that future legislation would not meet the same as the earlier ones. Starting with the story of

how compulsory education first came on to the statute books in India and the narrating how

and why these acts were then, as a deliberate policy, ‘forgotten’, this section lists the
42
compulsory education acts that have been passed in India, over a period of time, in an attempt

to highlight the message, that unless a high priority is accorded to education of the masses

especially in budgetary allocations, the new legislation could meet the same fate as the acts in

force.

With this official sanction to relegate ‘legislation or compulsion at the primary stage’

to the sole purpose of collection of cess, the ‘National Seminars on Compulsory Primary

Education’, having served the purpose of influencing the change in the stated policy, also

changed their name. After the 1964 CABE recommendation, they became ‘Seminars on

Elementary Education’, and the national educational goal, which up to then had been stated in

Central Government annual reports as the “introduction of universal free and compulsory

education”, was changed thereafter to the “achievement of the goal of universal education”.

Despite the fact that Article 45 of the Directive Principle of State Policy directed the State to

Endeavour to provide free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the

age of 14 years,

J.P. Naik, who was the Education Adviser to the Union Government and also the

Director of the Seminar on Compulsory / Elementary Education, provided enlightenment on

the underlying reasoning behind this policy shift in a publication in 1975. Though the

Constitution directed State to provide free and compulsory education, enough money was

never made available for making education compulsory. Rather than giving up efforts for this

constitutionally directed compulsion altogether, it was decided, as may be seen from extract

reproduced below, to enforce it up to the age of 14, but from the age of 6 years onwards, the

Constitution did not specify any lower age from which compulsion should begin.

The following Extract, from the Report of Working Group of the CABE on Universal

Primary Education, shows just how the lack of funding for mass education led to the grasping

at desperate, measures, to provide from the constitutional directive of compulsory education:

43
 “The present policy is to consider universal enrolment in the age group 11-14 after

universal enrolment in education system. In the new policy, an attempt would be made to

make education universal in the age group 11-14 side by side with expansion of facilities for

the age group 6-11.

The emphasis thus shifts from enforcing enrolment and attendance in the age group 6-

9 to enforcement of enrolment and attendance in the age group 11-14, ordinarily on apart-

time basis. This is more economical and effective. The late Dr. Zakir Hussain used to say,

that if he had money to provide only three years of education for the children of the country,

he would rather make education universal in the age group 11-14 than in the age group 6-9

because the grown up child will learn better and faster and remember things longer. He also

emphasized that the Constitution specifies the age of 14 as the upper limit for universal

education and does not mention the lower age limit. He therefore argued that compulsion in

the age group 11-14 would satisfy the constitutional directive while that in the age group 6-9

or even 6-11 would not. It is this policy on educational and constitutionally grounds that is

proposed to be given effect to in these recommendation”.23

Compulsory education laws make it a duty of the government to provide the facilities

and the means for children to be able to go to school. Had enough money been allotted for the

purpose, then the regular surveys stipulated by the compulsory education laws would have

been seriously conducted to identify children who should be in school; notices would have

been issued to parents informing them that a seat has been allotted to their child in a school.

Schools at reachable distances would have been provided, staffed and suitably equipped. This

would have been followed up enquires to ascertain whether the child is going to school, and,

if not, the reasons for non-attendance would have been verified. Officers appointed for the

purpose would have dealt with problems as soon as they occurred, and made it possible for

23
Extract from ‘Report of the working group of the CABE on Universal Primary Education in India’ reproduced
in Naik, J.P. (1975)

44
the child to get education somehow, if not in a formal school had such a procedure been

regularly followed; had there been a sufficient number of officers checking on attendance,

carrying out surveys, showing concern, finding solutions to problems; and had there been

enough schools and teachers, enough concern for learning, sufficient money allocated to

education, as was the case in some other equally poor countries who became independent

around the same time, then India may have been, like those countries, one of the Asian Tigers

today.

In 1994 ‘The Common Minimum Programme’ of the United Front Government

revolves to make the right to free and compulsory elementary education into a fundamental

right and to enforce it through suitable statutory measures. It sets up a committee (Saikia

Committee) to examine this proposal.

73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution, it has become possible for the Central

Government to legislate on elementary and secondary education, on the other hand, the

powers and functions on Panchayat Raj institutions have become subjects over which only

the State governments can legislate.

The belief, that the people do not want to send their children to schools, or that they do

not want education, has now been accepted by most as just a myth. Once, it is accepted that

the people want education, it follows that they do not need to be forced to send their boys to

school. Therefore, in this changed perspective, there were enormous role for the legislature to

provide education and protect all the rights of the children.

It is said that education must be of satisfactory quality, only when education satisfies

quality, would people be willing to pay the opportunity cost of sending their children to

schools. Logically, recognition of the right of the child to education and of the popular

demand for education also implicitly recognizes that the education provided must be the kind

of education that the people would want for their children. The National Policy on Education

45
of satisfactory quality is provided to all children up to 14 years of age before we enter the

twenty-first century”

46