Random Thoughts - Pattabhi Sitaraman

Sanskrit is one of the languages of the country and the same was used extensively for daily communication and in various literature till about the common era.  There were many highly qualified people in different disciplines of astronomy, astrology, biology, chemistry, medicine, philosophy and religious matters of all the three major religions.  Neither Chrisitianity nor Islam was there in the country when Sanskrit as a language was uniting the country from north to south and east to west. Many dynastic kings who ruled the country from the north west area of present day Afghanistan to far east Ahom dynasty or the Guptas and Mauryas on the Gangetic plains to the Pandyas and Cheras in the south contributed to the development of the language and its literature.  Some of the kings themselves wrote poetry and literature in the language which are popular even today among Sanskrit scholars. The practice of imparting knowledge on a particular subject was through word of mou...

The education system that is followed and known as Macaulay system was started by the British to mass produce the clerks for their administration.  The system did not produce free thinkers and the teaching methods did not and continue to not allow free thinking.  In this background if the country had produced some extraordinary persons in different fields who made a name for themselves in their chosen fields, it is their personal efforts and not the contribution of the educational system.  There are lots of questions raised as to why India, when compared to some of the western countries,  does not have any great invention to its name despite having the largest number of technically and scientifically qualified persons. The Indian education system post independence remained the same with more emphasis on continuing the legacy of mass producing clerks than inventors with free thinking. The system was further corroded with more emphasis on the victor's tale of wha...