HISTORY AND RIGHT OF EDUCATION

Education is necessary for the development of an individual. It plays an important role in incorporating human values. And also makes path for social and economic upgradation. From ancient times , India has always been a strong supporter of education because of which it is known as the universal teacher of knowledge. With times our education system has gone through several changes. To know India in a better way, in terms of education, it is important to know about the ancient education system.

In ancient times education was imparted through Gurukuls. Pupils used to reside in Gurukuls to gain knowledge. In those days life was divided into four asharms. First one was Brahamacharya Ashram in which students stay till the age of 25. They were given the complete knowledge of Vedas, Upnishadas and other religious books. Education in this vedic age was based on human values. The purpose of imparting this kind of learning was to prepare the students in mental, physical and spiritual way. The student was inspiried to gain moksha. India's ancient universities Nalanda, Takshila and Vikramshila were famous worldwide. Foriegn tourists in their travel books have mentioned the high standard of education imparted in these reputed universities. Many travellers have written that education standard was so high that the students who came for admission were interviewed first by the gatekeeper. With time education system was introduced by different foreign rulers.

If we look at the education system before Independence, we will find that the Britishers worked for the devolopment of education but at the same time they also imposed their education system on India. In the year 1813, they proposed to give one lakh rupees for the development of education under the Charter Act-43. This was the biggest amount ever given for the development of education. Lord MaColly was the man who was responsible to bring a revolution in the field of education. Because of his hardwork Indian Government announced the education regulation on 7th March,1835. The government stressed that whatever money will be expended it will be only for the devolopment of the English medium education. To bring a noticeable change and devolopment in education system, the government founded the First Education Board in the leadership of Sir William Hunter in the year 1882. But unfortunately the condition of education still did not changed. In 1901, Lord Curzon organized the Simla Conference on Education. This conference lasted for 15 days. During that period around 150 decisions were taken related to education. In 1902, Indian University Committee was established by the government to make certain improvements in higher education system. The Indian leaders blamed the government for trying to impose foriegn education system in India. To review this allegation Hurtong Committee was established in the year 1929. On the consideration of the committee in 1935 the Indian Government launched the Central Education Advisory Board. After this, government tried alot to improve the education system but no satisfactory improvement was seen.

After Independence the Indian government worked hard to improve the condition of education. University Education Board was setup on 4th November, 1948. This Board was headed by Dr. Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan. The Board deeply studied the possibilities of higher education and presented their valuable advise to the government. On 23rd september,1952 the government established Secondary Education Board. The head of this board was Dr. Lakshmanswami Mudaliar who was the Kulpati of Madras university. In June 1953, this Board submitted an agenda of 244 pages to the Indian government. According to that agenda improvements were made in higher education.

EDUCATION POLICY- Planning of education system was done in the same way around the country. Suggestions for establishing new open universities were given. The idea of this policy was to make available more and more opportunities for higher studies and make education reach to the common-man. The policy emphasized on spending 6 percent of national income on the education. In the year 1992 some amendments were made in this policy.On 14th July, 1964 Kothari Commission was formed. This commission submitted some new considerations on which the emphasis was laid on National Education Policy.On this basis Education Policy was formed in the year 1968. This policy included 17 programmes related to the education. After that in 1986 the new education policy was constructed and submitted. This policy gave ideas and views to improve the education system, to impart education to the adults, to make education easier ,for everyone, to maintain the standard of elementary education, emphasis on girl education, to open new universities in different states, to make the All Indian Technical Council Strong.

EDUCATION IN CONSTITUTION-In our Constitution every individual has a right to get education. Free education from the age of 1-14 is also mentioned in our constitution. According to the Para-45 of the constitution, free and compulsory education to the children is mentioned. In the Para-46 of the same policy, education benifits for SC,ST and other backward classes(OBCs) is also mentioned. The subject of education in the constitution was in the state list, but later on it was shifted to the concurrent list.

COURTSY- PATRIKA YEAR BOOK .