Abstract
As indicated in the preceding chapter, there can be no denying that a rapid transformation—ideational, attitudinal, social and cultural—towards reasoned rationality, democratic spirits and humanistic secularism serves as a foundation for modern economic growth, along with sustained scientific and technological progress and sociopolitical stability. And this sociocultural-ideational-attitudinal modernization was historically achieved, in a large measure, through a crucial agency of universal elementary education and literacy. Most of the lately industrialized (ex-colonial) countries (with perhaps few, if any, exceptions), which could successfully bring about sustained modern economic growth and development, began the journey with an initial emphasis/initiatives on achieving universal primary education and schooling (e.g. the East Asian countries). This was so with a view both to enhancing a country’s overall human capability/capital necessary for materialization of modern economic growth and to transforming citizens’ ideational make-up and attitudes in the direction of a more rational secular mould. But strangely enough the post-Independence India’s political leadership, as has been shown in the preceding chapter, chose to deviate persistently from this pragmatic time-tested route to development by postponing for long such momentous projects as universalization of primary education, people’s ideational modernization and secularization . This has, at least partly, been a fallout of an unwavering dominance of the Nehruvian perception (backed often tacitly by other influential quarters at the time) that people’s modern mind, outlook and attitudes would emerge almost inevitably as a by-product of large-scale modern industrialization, economic development and technological upgradation, with no need for distinctively independent (preceding or simultaneous) initiatives for the former.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
With the coming to power of the BJP-led government at the centre in 2014, a new educational policy (to be followed probably by another new NCF ), is in the offing.
- 2.
In fact, ‘Education Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, communicated to the Director of NCERT the need to review the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE-2000) in the light of the report, Learning Without Burden (1993)’ (NCERT 2005: v). The latter, prepared under the chairmanship of Professor Yash Pal, highlighted the imperative need for reducing curricular load on children particularly by emphasizing a distinction between burgeoning ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’.
References
Aggarwal, J.C. 2013. Landmarks in the History of Modern Indian Education, 7th ed. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.
Batra, P. 2010. Introduction. In Social Science Learning in Schools: Perspectives and Challenges, ed. P. Batra. New Delhi: Sage.
Bhog, Dipta, D. Mullick, P. Bhardwaj, and J. Sharma. 2010. Textbook Regimes: A Feminist Critique of Nation and Identity. New Delhi: Nirantar.
Bombwall, K.R. 1985. Foundations of Political Science: A Textbook for Class XI. New Delhi: NCERT.
Calcutta University Commission, 1917–19. 1919. Report, Part I, Volume 1, Calcutta.
Desai, Sonalde. 2013. From Schooling to Learning. Business Standard, 24 January.
Deshpande, S. 2003. Contemporary India: A Sociological View. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Dhankar, R. 2003. The Notion of Quality in DPEP Pedagogical Interventions. Contemporary Educational Dialogue 1 (1): 5–34.
Dhankar, R. 2012. Curriculum Framework in Search of a Coherent Epistemology: A Case Study of Indian National Curriculum Frameworks’. Paper Presented at the Annual Conference, New College, 30 March–1 April, in Oxford.
Drèze, J., and A.K. Sen. 2013. An Uncertain Glory. New Delhi: Allen Lane.
Ghosh, S.C. 1995. The History of Education in Modern India 1757–1986. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
GoI (Government of India). 1953. Report of the Secondary Education Commission. New Delhi: Ministry of Education.
GoI, MHRD. 2016. National Policy on Education 2016. Report of the Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy. New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
Habib, Irfan. 2005. How to Evade Real Issues and Make Room for Obscurantism. Social Scientist 33 (9/10): 3–12.
Jain, Manish. 2015. Curriculum Studies in India: Colonial Roots and Postcolonial Trajectories. In Curriculum Studies in India: Intellectual Histories, Present Circumstances, ed. W. Pinar. London: Palgrave.
Joy, Anu. 2014. Indian School Science Education. In Science Education: Few Takers for Innovation. Mumbai: IRIS Knowledge Foundation and e-Social Sciences.
Khan, R. 1990. Democracy in India: A Textbook in Political Science. New Delhi: NCERT.
Kingdon, G. 2016. Schooling Without Learning. The Hindu, 8 February.
Kochhar, S.K. 2014. The Teaching of Social Studies. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers.
Kothari Commission Report, vol. 1. 1966. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India.
Kumar, Krishna. 1991. Political Agenda of Education: A Study of Colonialist and Nationalist Ideas. New Delhi: Sage.
Kumar, Krishna. 2002. Winning Values: Secular Education Redefined. Economic and Political Weekly 37 (52): 5152–5154.
Kumar, Krishna. 2004a. What Is Worth Teaching. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
Kumar, Krishna. 2004b. Quality of Education at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Lessons from India. Background Paper Prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2005—The Quality Imperative, UNESCO, Paris.
Mohite, S. 2014. Critical Thinking on Caste Among Schoolchildren in Maharashtra: Case Study of Two Schools in Chiplun. Economic and Political Weekly 49 (22): 139–144.
Muley, D.S., S. Das, R. Chandra, and M. Rani. 1989. Our Country Today: A Textbook in Civics for Class VIII. New Delhi: NCERT.
Myrdal, G. 1968. Asian Drama, 3 vols. London: Penguin Books.
NCERT. 1968. Social Studies: Our Country—India, Book One. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 1969. The Nation and the School. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 1970. Education and National Development: Report of the Education Commission, 1964–66. New Delhi: NCERT (Reprinted and originally published in 1966 by the Ministry of Education, Government of India).
NCERT. 1973. Independent India: A Textbook for Middle Schools. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 1975. The Curriculum for the Ten-Year School: A Framework. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 1977. We and Our Government: A Textbook for Classes IX and X. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 1988. National Curriculum Framework 1988. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 2000. National Curriculum Framework for School Education. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 2001. Guidelines and Syllabi for Secondary Stage (Classes IX–X). New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 2005. National Curriculum Framework 2005. New Delhi: NCERT.
NCERT. 2011. Leading the Change: 50 Years of NCERT. New Delhi: NCERT.
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1989. The Discovery of India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nesiah, K. 1954. Social Studies in the School. Madras: Oxford University Press.
Nussbaum, Martha. 2007. The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence and India’s Future. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Panikkar, K.N. 2001. ‘Whither Indian Education?’—The Inaugural Address to the National Convention Against Communalisation of Education in India Organized by SAHMAT, 4–6 August. Accessed from www.indowindow.com/sad/article.php on 16 January, 2–17.
Panini, M.N. 1996. The Political Economy of Caste. In Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar, ed. M.N. Srinivas. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Preston, R.C. 1966. Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Pritchett, L. 2013. Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning. New York: Brookings Institution Press.
Rajesh, R. 2002. National Curriculum Framework and Its Values: A Parent’s Perspective. Economic and Political Weekly 37 (42): 4273–4277.
Ross, E.W. (ed.). 2006. The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities. New York: State University of New York.
Rudolph, L., and S. Rudolph. 1967. The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Sen, Amartya. 1971. Crisis in Indian Education. Hyderabad: Institute of Public Enterprises.
Seth, Sanjay. 2007. Secular Enlightenment and Christian Conversion: Missionaries and Education in Colonial India. In Education and Social Change in South Asia, ed. K. Kumar and J. Oesterheld. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
Siddharthan, R. 2017. Sundar Sarukkai’s Claim That the “March for Science” Was Unscientific Is Farcical. Wire, 11 August. Accessed from https://thewire.in/166516/march-for-science on 4 December 2017.
Sinai, I.R. 1964. The Challenge of Modernisation: The West’s Impact on the Non-Western World. London: Chatto & Windus.
Singh, Y. 1964. Cultural Integration and Changing Values (A Study of Value System of Educated Youth). Sociological Bulletin 13 (2): 49–66.
Singh, Y. 1986. Modernization of Indian Tradition. New Delhi: Rawat Publications.
Srinivasan, M.V. 2015. Reforming School Social Science Curriculum in India: Issues and Challenges. Economic and Political Weekly L (42): 52–58.
Tame, C. 1977. The Revolution of Reason: Peter Gay, the Enlightenment, and the Ambiguities of Classical Liberalism. Journal of Libertarian Studies 1 (3): 217–227.
Thapan, M. 2015. Introduction. In Education and Society: Themes, Perspectives, Practices, ed. M. Thapan. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
The Times of India. 2014. 1.4 Million Indian Children Aged 6–11 Out of School: UNESCO, 7 July.
Weiner, Myron. 1991. The Child and the State in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Maharatna, A. (2019). India’s Educational Thinking, Aims and School Curriculum: A Critical Look. In: The Indian Metamorphosis. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0797-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0797-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-0796-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-0797-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)