Education is the process of learning, or getting of knowledge, skills, values, and habits of essential needs of life.

Now we can shut down our teachers and class room if we are not  understanding the topic or we are not in a mode to study. We can put  our teacher on repeat mode and make them stand still or speak fast or  slow as our teachers now are google, wikipedia, youtube and  computers, laptop our classrooms. As of 2014, the number of internet  users worldwide was 2.92 billion, up from 2.71 billion in the previous  year. This is the change in the evolution of the education system. From  gurukuls to classes under a tree to classrooms with black boards to white boards to projectors and now finally on computers and laptops with  smart classes .The system of education has come a long way and also  the teachers, classrooms even students have changed. But one thing  which has not changed is imparting knowledge through learning which is  a never ending process.

Ancient education

In ancient times, India had the Gurukula system of education in which anyone  who wished to study went to a teacher's (Guru) house and requested to be  taught. If accepted as a student by the guru, he would then stay at the guru's  place and help in all activities at home. This not only created a strong tie  between the teacher and the student, but also taught the student everything  about running a house. The guru taught everything the child wanted to learn,  from Sanskrit to the holy scriptures and from Mathematics to Metaphysics.  The student stayed as long as she wished or until the guru felt that he had  taught everything he could teach. All learning was closely linked to nature and  to life, and not confined to memorizing some information.

   

The modern school system was brought to India, including the English  language, originally by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay in the 1830s. 
The curriculum was confined to “modern” subjects such as science and  mathematics, and subjects like metaphysics and philosophy were  considered unnecessary. Teaching was confined to classrooms and the  link with nature was broken, as also the close relationship between the  teacher and the student. Today there are thousands of schools affiliated  to the Board, both within India and in many other countries from  Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Universal and compulsory education for all  children in the age group of 6-14 was a cherished dream of the new Government of the Republic of India. This is evident from the fact that it  is incorporated as a directive policy in article 45 of the constitution. But  this objective remains far away even more than half a century later.  However, in the recent past, the Government appears to have taken a  serious note of this lapse and has made primary education a  Fundamental Right of every Indian citizen. 

Modern day education is aided with a variety of technology, computers,  projectors, internet, and many more. Diverse knowledge is being spread  among the people. Everything that can be simplified has been made  simpler. Science has explored every aspect of life. There is much to  learn and more to assimilate. The Internet provides abysmal knowledge.  There is no end to it. One can learn everything he/she wishes to. Every  topic has developed into a subject. New inventions and discoveries have  revealed the unknown world to us more variedly. Once a new aspect is  discovered, hundreds of heads start babbling over it, and you get a  dogma from hearsay. Not only our planet but the whole universe has  become accessible. Skill-development and vocational education has  added a new feather to the modern system of education. There is 

something to learn for everyone. Even an infant these days goes to a  kindergarten. Rightly said by Aristotle, “Education is an ornament in  prosperity and a refugee in adversity.” what everybody feels now. Well, that was the positive side, but every story has two telling. Of all the  virtue, our education system has developed into mere schooling now.  



Firstly our education is confined to schools and colleges. It has become  a process of spoon feeding. “Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us  nothing but the shape of the spoon”. Not art, not books, but life itself is  the true basis of teaching and learning. Cramming of facts and dates, hi fi mathematical formulas, theories and doctrines should be at college  levels when one has chosen his area of interest. Secondly, an art can  only be learned from a workshop of those who are earning their bread  from it. Modern education has spread more ignorance than knowledge. 

“How” is missing in our world which causes ignorance. Thirdly education  that is not self education is of no use. Presently, children after school are  sent to tuitions. This is a clear question mark on the ability of a school  teacher. Students are thought of like they can’t do anything on their own  and so are sent even to do the homework. Homework is a waste of  time, if it is to repeat class work done today or to be repeated as class  work to be done tomorrow. Our schooling does not leave us with time to  get educated.

My neighbour’s daughter once requested me to give her  a print of an article from the internet on bihu festival as her teacher has ordered  for a nice article from the internet and not to write on her own. I told her to  write it on her own otherwise she will not use her mind but a print  command from the computer will do the purpose which is not a right thing.  Finally our education is producing machines out of pupils. They read  books, they speak books and they do books. Discussing in class leads to  complications, which remain as confusions for a lifetime if left  untreated. “Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young  blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their  teacher nor they know.” The private education market in India had a  revenue of US$450 million in 2008, but is projected to be a US$40 billion  market. Another report from 2013 stated that there were 229 million students enrolled in different accredited urban and rural schools of India,  from Class I to XII, representing an increase of 2.3 million students over  2002 total enrollment, and a 19% increase in girl’s enrollment.

While  quantitatively India is inching closer to universal education, the quality of  its education has been questioned particularly in its Government run  school system. Some of the reasons for the poor quality include absence  of around 25 percent of teachers everyday. It is the duty of Government  and education authorities to improve the system of education for producing  intellectual brains for future and not machines for job.