DECOLONISING INDIAN EDUCATION

Innumerable platforms across the country have discussed on the standards, quality, relevance and goals of Indian education from time to time since independence. Most of these discussions have said without any reservation that the continental shift that happened to the Indian Education during the colonial rule did more damage to it than good. While no one can deny some of the benefits that occurred resulting in regularization, unification and articulation of the delivery of knowledge and art orienting it to a more mass transactional model, it did shake the fundamental faith in ourselves by ushering a sense of disbelief in our methodologies nurtured over centuries. It undermined the contextuality of the Indian education to suit it more to the colonial needs. More than that, it ushered in an industrial model of mass production of learning packages curbing the immense possibilities to learn, develop and grow at the individual level. The mass production of knowledge packages suiting to the colonial model, alienated the intrinsic curiosity, relevance to local needs, distanced from the native culture and affected the language diversity that nurtured the multiplicity of intellectual literary celebrations across the country.

It may be worthwhile to recall the words of Mark Twain who said “India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.” Though we may not be carried away by the power of his words to stay rooted in realities, it is equally important to feel that we had never been on the lower spectrum of intellectual luminosity in the global sky.

Seventy-five years after independence, when we do see most countries celebrating and focusing on their own native excellence, it is time for us to introspect whether our Indian education system should get back to celebrate some of its outstanding inputs that nurtured individuality, creativity, inter-dependence and social cohesion. The current National Education policy does provide some strong inputs that indicate the pathways to restore our ancient knowledge systems. If we could  tactfully, contextually and optimally consider some inputs that would help our learners to learn for leadership rather than followership, learn for enterprise rather than servitude, learn for quality and excellence rather than certification, focus on self-learning and self-directed learning rather than sourced extrinsic learning, we would be doing better justice to the future generation

Decolonising Indian education is not just a political or cultural gesture—it’s a profound reimagining of what it means to learn, to know, and to grow in a society shaped by both ancient wisdom and colonial legacies. It is to come to terms with our own realities so that we not only provide the much-needed self-sufficiency to our national needs but provide a global leadership simultaneously. Here are a few thoughts to consider:

Reclaiming Indigenous Knowledge Systems

The repository of knowledge in the Indian culture and thought architectures have been amazing. They stood confirmed over centuries and through several legacies. However, the colonial mindset marginalized and condemned them as ‘unscientific’ and questioned their credibility. Conscious efforts to override the Indian knowledge systems with those prevalent in alien systems over decades changed the currency of the Indian knowledge systems. The native systems did give importance to knowledge constructed through observation, experience, intutition, intellectual debates, field tests and through organic attachments and verifications. The learning was customized, individualistic, non-competitive, stress free and research oriented. Learning was informal, improvised and engaging non-conditioned by time and space. The concept of failure was unknown and every individual contributed to knowledge construction in their unique was based on their aptitude and ability. The modern system focused on competitive group performance promoting achievements, success and so failure too. It is time to re-engage our learners to give them the feel of self-pride, self-worth and sense of intellectual leadership. This is certainly not an exercise of destabilizing our sensitivity to changing learning dynamics and knowledge inflow.

Restoring faith in Indian knowledge systems

Modern learning concepts are confirmed by certain essential testing and confirming routes. Some of these methods are more akin to the western conceptual framework for dealing with knowledge domains. Positioning an alien model into such testing platforms would naturally reject them as non-credible. While one need not negate or reject those testing tools in toto, it is equally important to provide space and opportunity to other native models. Any advocacy that would defeat one model against the other would be injurious to the celebration of human developmental history and the efforts put in by communities that have lived apart and in different geographies. The Indian education systems should take efforts to restore faith in the enshrined values of the past revalidating them from time to time on the touchstones of evolving technologies. The words of Dena Moes are worth being reminded - “India teaches me again and again, that the categories into which I try to divide things don’t hold up.”

Developing the mindscape relevant to the landscape.

The conceptual framework of knowledge systems needs to be akin to the local consumption needs. The words of Aurobindo “Learning always happens from near to far” makes a lot of sense to any learning context. Teaching colonial needs and historical occurrences and geo-political developments have neither a current nor a long-term value to Indian learners. As such curricula worldwide do practice what is needed to the local context. Global knowledge inputs are needed and are relevant to learners who have scaled up and achieved some basic competencies about their own native lands. In a plural society like India with a wide spectrum of flora and fauna, a rich diversity of cultural history spread over a few thousand years, its profound consideration of disciplines like mathematics, sciences, literature and arts, its solid foundations need factual positioning in the global knowledge contexts instead of being painted with mythical colours neither understood nor practised by non-native communities. A decolonised curriculum fosters cultural rootedness, helping learners see themselves as inheritors of deep traditions—not just consumers of foreign ideas. However, this does not exclude the rich inputs the country has received from time to time by invaders who did contribute to the local development.

Promoting critical thinking in the national context

Decolonisation challenges dominant narratives and encourages critical inquiry into history, society, and power structures.    It promotes inclusive education, where diverse communities see their stories reflected and respected. It provides opportunities to celebrate the achievements of all those who have contributed to a vibrant democracy with their own legacy and the projects of possibilities for a powerful nation. In a decolonized atmosphere entrepreneurial attitudes are sensitive to local consumption patterns to meet their specific needs simultaneously providing opportunities for global communication and marketing of the Indigenous knowledge and skills.

Engaging with the sovereignty of knowledge

Building, nurturing and transacting with local knowledge systems is an expression of the intellectual sovereignty and an assertion of an identity which can neither be negotiated nor liquidated. The words of the German linguist Max Muller do give us the power of who we are – “If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India.” The recent efforts of India to carve a place for its own in the field of technology in the global community is a proof enough to show the emerging possibilities. We need to prepare our future generations as leaders rather than as followers. The Indian education system needs to respond more by diffusing competition and empowering cooperation to scale higher peaks of excellence in all domains of knowledge and skills. Rediscovering the glory of India in the field of education is not just an option but an emerging necessity.