Purpose of Indian Education

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”

                                                                                                                 – Albert Einstein

Consider the story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and conceptualize what the elephant is like by touching it. Before announcing that it is an elephant, the person who touches the trunk, thinks that the elephant is a tree. Each blind man feels a different part of the elephant's body, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then describe the elephant based on their limited experience and their descriptions of the elephant are different from each other. All of them believe that their definition of the elephant is precise. Buddhist text Udana 6.4, about (mid-1st millennium BCE)

 The principles and context of our teaching contributes a lot to the nature of knowledge the students arrive at according to the individual’s capacity. If we offer knowledge partially, it is but natural that the receiver will have only a limited conceptualization. The teacher many a times presumes that every child knows the “elephant” and the “forest”. This presumption leads to ambiguity. To the experienced mind, the concepts are clear. It is a question of great responsibility if the educator was able to impart this concept in the best of contexts.

Several years back as a student, I always struggled to grasp trans-disciplinary concepts. I would shut my eyes at something if I did not understand it in its depths. It instilled a fear of failure. I could not easily transition from Math to Science to History to Biology etc. It took me several years to understand that if I viewed everything in relation to the subject of my interest, I understood it and retained it far better than done otherwise.

“Research has found that interest is a more powerful predictor of future choices than prior achievement or demographic variables” (Annie Murphy Paul, 2014).

Any concept given to me in the form of stories and anecdotes with discussion, kept my interest and attention alive and my understanding and retention was far better than when they were a monologue presentation.

This led me to believe strongly that it is not enough to make statements to students based on textbook lessons. “Knowledge has to be broken down to its component parts” (Garry Jacobs 2014). These parts have to be presented in relation to our life and experience and then analyzed and synthesized. The analysis and synthesis will branch out to its trans-disciplinary counterparts.

My life experiences and education gave me the philosophical stance of Integrality – “the state of being total and complete”. At work, I received training to teach in the context of Holistic Education.

I gained spiritual knowledge from the works of Sri Aurobindo who was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist. Sri Aurobindo developed a spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a divine life. 

Mirra Alfassa “Mother” was a spiritual guru, an occultist and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, The educational vision of Mirra Alfassa, known as the Mother, which she implemented at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education has much to offer.

“Mother” felt a holistic education must focus on the simultaneous development of five dimensions of an individual: physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual. She envisioned an educational system that balances these dimensions and serves as a platform to enhance the learner’s potential. 

I also had the privilege of receiving guidance from “Sri Karmayogi” who is a disciple of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and the Founder/President of The Mother's Service Society, an educational and research institute inspired by their spiritual teachings and based in Pondicherry, South India. Since the 1960s, he has been studying their work and developing original applications of spiritual principles in the fields of economic and social development theory, education, literary criticism, management, national and global governance, peace and security, psychology, spirituality and yogic practice. (www.karmayogi.net) 

 Sri Karmayogi encouraged me to experiment with teaching practices and contextual learning based on Constructivist theory. Constructivism is a theory in education that recognizes the learners' understanding and knowledge based on their own experiences. John Dewey (1933/1998) is often cited as the philosophical founder of this approach. Bruner (1990) and Piaget (1972) are considered the chief theorists among the cognitive constructivists, while Vygotsky (1978) is the major theorist among the social constructivists. At the Kindergarten and Elementary level, we made use of all that could help a child from Montessori to Glen Doman. He also encouraged me to make extensive changes to the curriculum based upon the students’ reciprocation based on the Theory of Reinforcement by B.F Skinner. I will explain more about this and many other useful theories in my subsequent posts. He always gave importance to research and expected all his schoolteachers to be trained researchers.

I later came across other progressive methods like Problem and Project based learning theories that we are yet to experiment. We should always be on the process of developing a better context to deliver successfully our philosophical stance.

What can we learn from the global perspective on the purpose of education?

Global Education Guidelines (2010) mentions the Global perspective to education is a

 “Holistic education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the world, and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and human rights for all”.

We need to educate the next generation not only to serve their nation but also to solve global issues like Climate change, Nuclear disarmament, Economic crisis etc. The Global perspective demands us to come out of our small framework and join a larger collective force working towards a good future for our generations. To save the Earth from humanity’s irrational and wasteful deeds. If each country takes this responsibility and aims at such a high and meaningful purpose of education then the only war left to fight will be against ignorance.