GURUKUL AND LORD MACAULAY - MODERN HISTORY
News: Macaulay
sent to end India’s traditional education system, says Rajnath Singh
What's in the news?
● Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh said Lord Macaulay was sent to throttle India’s
traditional system of education and to mentally enslave the people.
● Rajnath
Singh spoke at a large gathering of seers and students at the foundation laying
ceremony of Patanjali Gurukulam in
Haridwar.
Key takeaways:
● Mr.
Singh said that the revival of ‘gurukuls’ was necessary to counter the effects
of the Macaulayist system of education on Indian minds.
Key takeaways:
● On
the recommendations of Lord Macaulay in
1835, the British “destroyed the Gurukul education system” of India which
was “deeply rooted in traditions to carve human beings”.
Gurukul System:
● The
Gurukul was a type of school in the ancient
education system. Gurukulam has existed since the vedic age.
Motto:
● To
develop the knowledge, they were highly focused on education.
● The
Gurus train their students with meditations,
yogas and other standards.
Features:
● The
students will gather there and learn
vedas from their Guru.
● The
students were treated equally
irrespective of their social standards. The students were treated as a part
of Guru families.
● The
gurukulam system gained a new tradition known as Guru-shishya tradition.
○ The
teacher is called a Guru and the students are called Shisyas.
Objectives:
● Self
control
● Character
development
● Social
awareness
● Personality
development
● Intellectual
development
● Spiritual
development
● Preservation
of knowledge & culture
Categories:
● Vasu
- Those obtaining education up to the age of 24.
● Rudra
- Those obtaining education up to the age of 36.
● Aaditya
- Those obtaining education up to the age of 48.
The
Gurukhul is a comprehensive learning center where the students are taught good
habits of respecting the elders, mother, father & teachers. On the whole,
the ancient system gained a huge respect with this Gurukulam system.
Lord Macaulay:
● Thomas
Babington Macaulay (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a Whig politician
and historian from the United Kingdom.
● He
is widely regarded as the primary
architect of India's transition to a Western-style education system.