Gurukul System versus Modern Education in India–A Need for Amalgamation of the Two System to Eliminate the Crisis of Illiteracy, Economy and Social Problems of the Society

Abstract

India has the most outstanding version of imparting education which is well known to the world , the origin can be trace back to 5000 BC .The Gurukul system has its influence left across the world , Social awareness, character building , developing personality , discipline, self-control, being spiritual and learning about Indian culture and imparting knowledge in an open ground was some of the features of Bharat, Gurukul, Bharat was an pedagogy nerve centre for the rest of the whole also , people use to come and study in India from Middle East ,Europe , Portugal , what change has come now is that Indians go to foreign countries to study as the new Modern Education system of India has made the life of students miserable by putting excess mental pressure .India has the most important of student suicide cases in India , the pressure of scoring marks , lack of practical knowledge , reservation of seats , old syllabus taking about Partition and Independence of India , imposition of English language , no skill development , just rat learning exist in today's Modern education System. Sports, crafts and all are not motivated to be taken as career options, In the Gurukul age Physical training was integral to learning along with Yoga and meditation to keep the mind and soul in peace. We need to bring a better version of the education practices in India.

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International Journal of Recent Advances in Multidisciplinary Topics
Volume 2, Issue 11, November 2021
https://www.ijramt.com | ISSN (Online): 2582-7839
*Corresponding author: sumanta.21394@gmail.com
102
Abstract: India has the most outstanding version of imparting
education which is well known to the world , the origin can be trace
back to 5000 BC .The Gurukul system has its influence left across
the world , Social awareness, character building , developing
personality , discipline, self-control, being spiritual and learning
about Indian culture and imparting knowledge in an open ground
was some of the features of Bharat, Gurukul, Bharat was an
pedagogy nerve centre for the rest of the whole also , people use to
come and study in India from Middle East ,Europe , Portugal ,
what change has come now is that Indians go to foreign countries
to study as the new Modern Education system of India has made
the life of students miserable by putting excess mental pressure
.India has the most important of student suicide cases in India , the
pressure of scoring marks , lack of practical knowledge ,
reservation of seats , old syllabus taking about Partition and
Independence of India , imposition of English language , no skill
development , just rat learning exist in today’s Modern education
System. Sports, crafts and all are not motivated to be taken as
career options, In the Gurukul age Physical training was integral
to learning along with Yoga and meditation to keep the mind and
soul in peace. We need to bring a better version of the education
practices in India.
Keywords: Gurukul, modern education system, rat leaning
developing personality, practical knowledge, reservation of seats.
1. Introduction
People across the world have a different opinion on what
education serves , some people send their children to school as
it is mandatory and part of the social norms , some people go to
school so that in future they can earn a good sum as without
education they can’t get a high standard job , some people go to
school and university to get disciplined ,we have education
institutes were we have to stay in the institute till our schooling
is over or university level where we have to follow all the rules
and regulation of the institute and act according to them , where
as we have educational institute where we go for few hours and
then come back to our home , these two educational way of
learning also plays a significant role in the developing the
personality of a person as when you live in the institute you
have to go by all the rules and regulation and if you break them
you have you bear the punishment, here it’s more of student
teacher relation with no parents interference, you are more
obliged to him/her which is similar to the Gurukul system. With
advance in technology and growth of science we see a change
in the pattern of our education , how knowledge is impart to us
in today’s world .The Modern education system is very
different from the Vedic age in India , today across the world
there are so many schools and colleges , we have student
exchange problem , we have strict patterns of examination ,
studies happen within the four wall of a classroom ,where the
teacher student ratio is of 1 : 50 , we have projects , homework
, internal exams, it’s like we go to school study come home
prepare for the next day exam and give it , you don’t have much
time to analysis, it’s more of a rat race , the modern education
system in India , the Modern education system was established
by the British ruler in India with aim to dominate the people and
have more people learning the English system of education
which in future will help to them to use these Indians in
achieving their success which led to the close of Sanskrit school
, end of Indian culture which was promoted in the schools and
colleges , where every child was imparted education before the
British closed the institutions and brought an end to the Indian
style of education which was very unique from other , even after
the Independence , India has continued with the British system
of education with emphasis on English language , you see even
after 75 years of Independence , how we are being dominated
by a foreign language when Sanskrit used to be the main
language of India , today the world is learning after Indian
culture where Indian are busy following the Western culture ,
the British left India but has left its influence till today on the
minds of humans .
Gurukul System versus Modern Education in
India–A Need for Amalgamation of the Two
System to Eliminate the Crisis of Illiteracy,
Economy and Social Problems of the Society
Sumanta Bhattacharya1*, Bhavneet Kaur Sachdev2
1Research Scholar and Policy Analyst, Department of Development Studies, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
University of Technology, Howrah, India
2Student, Department of Development Studies, Calcutta University, Howrah, India

S. Bhattacharya et al. International Journal of Recent Advances in Multidisciplinary Topics, VOL. 2, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2021
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2. Research Methodology
For the purpose of this exploration, I have used an
amalgamation of two of the archetypical social sciences
research tools application –as they are authentic and brilliant
method to assemble statistics from multiple appellant in a
methodical and convenient way. Question were asked to the
common youth , public policy Analyst , students , doctors ,
medical students , teachers , old people , rural population ,
survey , interviews –consisting of several interrogation which
were dispersed among representative of each contender group
1) Objective of the Research Paper
The main areas of exploration in this paper incorporates
1. Understanding the Education system in the world.
2. Education system in India.
3. The Gurukul System of India
4. Problems with the Modern Education system.
5. A study on the issues faced by the Indian students.
3. Literature Review
The Gurukul system of education in ancient India where
everyone was given equal treatment and taught without taking
into consideration social standards .It was a relation of a guru
and Shisya relation , where the shisya goes to the Gurukul and
stay there till the completion of his/her education it’s from the
age of eight and goes till early 20s , the origin of Gurukul can
be traced back to 5000 BC .In Gurukul the education was
imparted in the natural surroundings , the shisya used to live
together in peace and harmony with the rest of the students
,Brotherhood love and discipline existed in that period .
Gurukul main motive was to develop in student’s self-control,
bring social awareness, Intellectual growth, character
development, personality development, spiritualism and
preservation of the knowledge and culture. The main subjects
where science, language, grammar, mathematics, learning
about the culture. In Gurukul Physical activities were given
equal importance, shisya were taught Yoga, Mediation,
shanting mantra which would help to maintain self-control and
develop spiritualism and also keep the body and mind healthy.
In the gurukul students were taught sports like Archery, house
riding, hunting which was very integral in gurukul system,
crafts and paintings were taught and dance. Ayurvedic
knowledge was promoted for medical purpose. These
contributed to the overall development of a child brain and
personality development. Studies were divided into three
groups : Vasu –students who attended education till the age of
24 , Rudra –students who attended education till the age of 36
and Aaditya –people gaining Shisya till the age of 48 , It is a
comprehensive learning place , where spiritual and moral
values were imparted and one was provided with knowledge on
ancient literature and science , Sanskrit was the main language
, even many female used to learn horse riding and archery , in
history we have seen Women freedom fighters like Rani
Lakshmi Bai , It was India who developed University education
in the world where more than 700 subjects were taught , people
from Middle East ,Europe and Portugal use to come to India
and study , Bharat was an education hub ,what the world is
learning today and moving towards new system of teaching was
actually what existed in India 5000 BC ago . The Gurukul
System of education is coming back into the picture , Education
not just mean gaining knowledge about new innovation and
learning about the theories and history of Modern India
.Education is more about knowing yourself , developing
confidence , keeping the mind and soul healthy and gaining
utmost knowledge through practical experience and learning an
healthy environment . The New Education Policy of 2020 has
only tried by bring back 1 % of the old Indian System of
education where there are a lot of complex debates happening
on this.
4. Findings
The modern education system was introduced in 1835 by
Lord Macauley , which was of a British orient, This system of
education has given rise to discrimination on basis of race ,
gender , caste in the Indian Society , today maximum seats are
reserved for the backward classes in schools and in particular at
the university level , which has resulted in most of the students
leaving India and going to foreign for their higher education ,
the entrance exams which are held for University level
education is not justified where you have a particular seats of
questions for all kind of subjects for instance a student of pure
humanities who want to purse Masters in History honours and
have to set for an examination which is based on Mathematics
, why we have such a thing existing . A person wants to study
master’s in Public Policy but has to appear for an entrance
exams which has no connection with the subject which has
resulted in lost of opportunities for many students , we judged
on the basis of the marks we obtain in the school and at the
college level , these marks which has no correction with our
jobs decides are career , where one teacher entertains 50
students , where the teacher comes and teaches in the four walls
of a classroom and leave the class , whether the students were
able to understand the concept is not a matter of concern for the
teachers , students are taught about theories which has no value
when it comes to the practical world .More than half of things
which we learn in school has no value in our life . We are
basically noy taught anything innovative in schools and
colleges we just learn up theories and then we write it in our
answer sheets what marks we get by rat learning decides our
future and that is why told most of the educated youth are
unemployed as we don’t skill development that is absolutely not
their mistake but the mistake of the education system , who
actual don’t provide any kind of practical experience which in
further can be implemented and the other big problem with our
education system is that 90% of our young youth who are the
future , have knowledge about the Indian Culture , its glories
past , the History books are filled with information related to
the Word War , how India was attracted by the British and How
India was successfully in liberating themselves , what about the
old Indian Culture , the architecture of India , the foreign
countries students are coming to India for cultural exchange
program , to study on manuscripts , Sanskrit is being taught in
education institution in Foreign country and how many people
in India know how to speak in Sanskrit .How many people have

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read about the Ramayana and Mahabharata , principles of
Kautilya. The Indian books are filled with Shakespeare stories.
The India education system has both Private and Public school,
in the private school the language of teaching is English and in
the government school it is Hindi or depending upon the state
as we have 22 recognized language in India. The biggest
problem is the English Language in India only 30 % of the
people IN India know how to speak in English rest 70 % of the
population which forms a massive group don’t know English,
Hindi is the most frequently spoken language in India followed
by Bengali. I mean this English language has ruined up the
future of many people, India is a poor country with maximum
people living below the poverty line, they can’t afford to take
admission in Private schools, Even if the people have
knowledge and excellent innovative ideas, they don’t feel like
to establish themselves as English language comes as a hurdle
in between and all the high profile jobs in India requires the
English Language knowledge, Why? Why will all the Humans
in India learn to speak English which is a foreign language?
Fig. 1. Student suicide rate in England and Wales
Coming to Medical and engineering colleges , as per 2020,
28 medical students commit suicide per day . In 2018 10,159
students committed suicide , Every one hour a student comes
suicide in India due to pressure of studies and the fear of failure
, Failure is a very dangerous and bad thing to look at , for
students .Parents and teachers put so much pressure on the
students when it comes to marks that they can’t tolerate the
mental pressure and commit suicide , the mentality and
different made between the 3 streams in the Education system ,
we have seen maximum parents forcing their children to go for
either medical studies or engineering as they are most
prestigious or became lawyers , this is the mentality of the
Indian Society , activities such as Yoga , Mediation is never
seen on the Modern education system , there is no sports like
archery and all promoted at the school level, no outdoor
exposure , which gives birth to professionals who don’t have
the power to thing . No experience , no vocation training , no
value of music , dance , artist as professional in the Indian
Education system , we have a structured system of education
which is not meant for everyone , Every professional was
respected in the Gurukul system . There is nothing the modern
education system in India provides that boost confidence,
develop self-control, and discipline the students else it
demotivate them at every level creating psychological pressure
which has indirectly affected the health of Indian Students.
Fig. 2. State with suicide (2016-2018)
5. Conclusion
The New Education Policy 2020 has taken an initiative to
modify the education system of India , lets how it works , they
have promoted the use of regional languages and introduced
vocational training , the opportunity to choose subjects of their
no with no pressure from any side, where marks will not play a
significantly role in the students life but other factors will also
count at the end of the year which will tell us about the
performance of the Students , digital education initiated ,
students exchange program and all before all these , it is very
important to educate all the Indian and explain how this new
education policy will change the scenario of India education
system which hopes to reduce the mental pressure on the child’s
brain and reduce the student suicide rate. The Gurukul System
was a unique system of education which gave equal importance
to all the sectors and developed persons who had radical and
critical thinking ability with peace and confidence attitude
which lacks in today’s society .Mental and Physical stability is
very necessary for the gain of knowledge and implementing it
in the professional life.
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