Archive for June, 2011

June 27th, 2011

Purpose of education

Purpose of education

Education, if simply stated, means the process of gaining knowledge, inculcating forms of proper conduct and acquiring technical competency.

It involves the cultivation of an innocent mind, the instilling of values and principles in the minds of children. It includes the development of skills along with the achievement of one’s physical, mental and social development. To put it in technical terms, education consists of defined phases starting from formal education that consists of primary, secondary and higher education and ideally it never ends.

While receiving education we seldom think of the purpose of education. We hardly think of the reason behind education. It is while we grow up that we begin realizing the purpose of education and understand its application in the daily life. We begin to realize the purpose of education only after it begins finding applications in our professional and personal lives. Education continues through all the phases of our life as knowledge is oceanic and one can never claim to have acquired all of it.

Education is believed to be responsible for the cultivation of a civilized society. Imparting education to the citizens enables the development of a responsible and thoughtful society. Education helps in imbibing moral and ethical values in the individuals and their education, in turn, helps in the creation of a healthy society that bears a deep understanding of principles and the philosophy of life.

Another purpose of taking education is to bring about progress in practical fields to enable each educated individual of society to earn a living. Education aims at making the individuals of society self-sufficient. Education of the various practical fields produces productive human resources, who can contribute to the creation of wealth for a country. While the people earn for their work, they are also creating something for their organization to make money on. Every organization is a part of the nation, thus sharing the nation’s responsibility of achieving monetary gains. Educated people can thus help their nation earn money while earning their daily bread.

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The social development brought about by education is apparent in the abilities of an individual as a part of society. Education helps an individual to thrive in society, to interact with other social animals and helps a person attain and maintain a certain degree of social well-being. During the process of education, one is always a part of a group, be it school or college. The process of education thus contributes to one’s interpersonal intelligence. The fundamental purpose of education is to teach a person to read and write. Reading goes a long way in life, providing the reader with experiences of life and training him/her to lead a meaningful life.

Bill Beattie, one of the famous authors and writers believes that education should teach us how to think, rather than telling us what to think. Eric Hoffer, an American social writer, believes in the main purpose of education being the implanting of a will and facility to learn. He believes that the purpose of education is to produce learning individuals and not necessarily learned ones. Bishop Creighton, on similar lines states that education should aim at creating people who continually ask questions. By this he means to say that education should nurture the inquisitiveness and curiosity in individuals.

Education lays the foundation for the fulfillment of a person’s dreams and aspirations. Education helps a person meet his/her career objectives and achieve an economic growth. Education builds a resourceful individual out of a raw human being. Education contributes to the cultivation of a prudent person and earns the person satisfaction of having met his/her goals. Education results in a sense of personal fulfillment and paves path for this feeling of fulfillment. An educated human being, having experienced the positive effects of education on his/her personality is bound to encourage the idea of education and effectively, educate his/her children. Hence one individual thus results in an educated family, taking education a long way along the future generations. One of the beliefs about the purposes of education is that education aims at creating good teachers!

There are several purposes of education. The sole purpose of education is to educate all students and give everyone equal opportunity as a means to succeed in life. Through knowledge and skill, all individuals can achieve greatness.

In addition, common values such as punctuality, following rules, cooperation, learning to work and get along together as well as a sense of responsibility are all-important factors of education. The combinations of knowledge and skills as well as the common values will help our young students bloom into adults and become responsible and productive citizens.

 

coauthor:Solomon L.Lodesso

Registered Ph.d scholar at UNISA

Former associate Dean,faculty of education,

Hawassa University,Ethiopia

Source: ArticlesBase.com

June 25th, 2011

History of Education in India

History of Education in India

The first millennium and the few centuries preceding it saw the flourishing of higher education at Nalanda, Takshila, Ujjain, & Vikramshila Universities. Art, Architecture, Painting, Logic, Grammar, Philosophy, Astronomy, Literature, Buddhism, Hinduism, Arthashastra (Economics & Politics), Law, and Medicine were among the subjects taught and each university specialized in a particular field of study. Takshila specialized in the study of medicine, while Ujjain laid emphasis on astronomy. Nalanda, being the biggest centre, handled all branches of knowledge, and housed up to 10,000 students at its peak.

British records show that indigenous education was widespread in the 18th century, with a school for every temple, mosque or village in most regions of the country. The subjects taught included Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Theology, Law, Astronomy, Metaphysics, Ethics, Medical Science and Religion. The schools were attended by students representative of all classes of society.

The current system of education, with its western style and content, was introduced & funded by the British in the 20th century, following recommendations by Macaulay. Traditional structures were not recognized by the British govt and have been on the decline since. Gandhi is said to have described the traditional educational system as a beautiful tree that was destroyed during the British rule.

After independence, education became the responsibility of the states. The Central Government’s only obligation was to co-ordinate in technical and higher education and specify standards. This continued till 1976, when the education became a joint responsibility of the state and the Centre.

In 1976, education was made a joint responsibility of the states and the Centre, through a consititutional amendment. The center is represented by Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Deparment of Education and together with the states, it is jointly responsible for the formulation of education policy and planning.

NPE 1986 and revised PoA 1992 envisioned that free and compulsory education should be provided for all children up to 14 years of age before the commencement of 21st century. Government of India made a commitment that by 2000, 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be spent on education, out of which half would be spent on the Primary education.

In November 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced setting up of Vidya Vahini Network to link up universities, UGC and CSIR.

The Indian Education System is generally marks-based. However, some experiments have been made to do away with the marks-based system which has lead to cases of depression and suicides among students. In 2005, the Kerala government introduced a grades-based system in the hope that it will help students to move away from the cut-throat competition and rote-learning and will be able to focus on creative aspects and personality development as well.

Development of education in India regards that free and compulsory education should be provided to all children up to fourteen years of age before the commencement of 21st century. Moreover, the 86th Amendment of the Indian constitution makes education a fundamental right for all children aged 6-14 years. Education travelled a long way and thus Indian education system introduced certain advantageous system such as . Online education is a system of education training which is delivered primarily via the Internet to students at remote locations. The Online courses may not be delivered in a synchronous manner. Online education enables the students to opt for many online degrees or online courses from various online universities. Thus online education encompasses various degrees and courses. This course has various advantages, as pursuing an online course can be done simultaneously with one`s present occupation. Moreover, an online degree assists in increasing the career prospects

has become part of the international discourse on education policy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Non formal education refers to the learning process throughout life. In addition to that non-formal education is about acknowledging the importance of education, learning and training which takes place outside recognized educational institutions. There are four characteristics associated with non formal education system. This system is a proof for the Development of education in India as this system helps to focus on clearly defined purposes

Indian education has different phases. Students are provided with extensive scope and courses to choose from. One enjoys the opportunity of selecting the required field. The system of is becoming increasingly popular. The students choosing distance learning process are benefited with the modern pattern followed. The availability of distance learning courses has assured that a person can pursue education from any state or university accordingly. Development of education in India ensures that all Indian citizens will receive education in spite of financial constrains or unavailability of colleges and schools.

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This massive system of higher education in India constitutes of 342 universities (211 State, 18 Central, 95 deemed universities) 13 institutes of national importance, 17,000 colleges and 887 polytechnics. University Grant Commission (UGC), a national body, coordinates and looks after the maintenance of standard of university education in India. The university education in India starts with undergraduate courses. Depending upon the nature of course pursued its duration may vary from three to five and a half years.

This course at undergraduate level is known as MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery). It is of four and a half year’s duration plus one year of obligatory internship. Various medical colleges conduct entrance examination for admission to this course. An all India level examination is also conducted by CBSE for admission to colleges all over India based over 15% reserved seats. The important medical colleges of India are:

All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi
Air Force Medical College (AFMC), Pune
Christian Medical College (CMC), Ludhiana
Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore
Grants Medical College, Mumbai
Institute of Medical Science (BHU), Varanasi
Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry
Maulan Azad Medical College (MAMC), Delhi
Lady Harding Medical College (LHMC), Delhi (for girls only)
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Science , Wardha

Aeronautical and Aerospace engineering
Agriculture engineering
Computer engineering
Electronic and electrical engineering
Industrial engineering
Marine engineering
Mining engineering

Delhi college of Engineering, Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology, KANPUR
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Institute of Technology, BHU
NIT Karnataka, Surathkal
National Institute of Technology, Warangal

In India education in management is one of the most sort out courses. The institutes, which impart education in management, are known as “Business Schools”. In India management education is given at two levels, undergraduate and post-graduate. Undergraduate degree courses include BBA, BBS, BBM. Postgraduate degree course is known as MBA (Masters of Business Administration). Some of the important Business schools of India are:

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
Indian Institute of Management, Indore
Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi
Symbiosis, Pune
JBIMS, Mumbai
XLRI, Jamshedpur

The other professional courses offered by Indian universities include, Architecture, Dental, Fashion Designing, Travel and Tourism.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to the world and ‘charaka’ is known as the father of Ayurveda. He developed this system some 2500 years back.
Takshila was the first university of world established in 700 B.C.
Nalanda University, built in 4 AD, was considered to be the honor of ancient Indian system of education as it was one of the best Universities of its time in the subcontinent.
Indian language Sanskrit is considered to be the mother of many modern languages of world.
Place value system was developed in India in 100 B.C.
India was the country, which invented number system.
Aryabhatta, the Indian scientist, invented digit zero.
Trigonometry, algebra and calculus studies were originated in India.

 

 

Sathish Kumar

 

For detailed information about Education in India please visit our website http://www.apsira.com, We at apsira.com dedicated to Indian education system; there you will get more information about Institutes, Colleges, Courses and more.

 

Source: ArticlesBase.com