By Kaustubh Sonalkar

How is it that the youth of today are more educated, but less employable? Why is education, originally intended to create a level playing field, now a cause for an even wider chasm where the rich who can afford the best private education for their children, secure the best futures for them – while the large middle class starts off their careers on the back foot? The government of India’s renewed focus on Vedic education has the potential to go the distance in remedying much of the drawbacks of the modern education system.

The central government intends to set up a veda-based education board under the ministry of education, to proliferate vedic education in India. These plans may be rooted in the past but have their sights firmly set on the future as was apparent from the Ministry of Education’s Republic Day Parade earlier this year, themed ‘Vedas to Metaverse’. 

Here are some facts to analyze the role ancient, vedic education played in establishing India as world leaders in intellect and application. India gave the world the ubiquitous ‘zero’. There was also the mention of Vimana in ancient Sanskrit texts and epics. The decimal system too, was established in the early vedic period. Ancient Indian medicine including the art of surgery was also far ahead of its time – as far back as the vedic times Sushrut from the 5th century BC was India’s most celebrated physician and surgeon.

The ancient holistic vedic education system formed the basis for the founding principles of not only India’s early intellectual superiority, but also its widespread real-world applicability. It was the Gurukul system of education that was the primary system of education in ancient India. Under it, the relationship of the teacher and student was strong and immersive. On their part, students learnt the various aspects of life and essential life skills from their teachers or Gurus. Education was wholesome and not restricted to just theory. They learnt life lessons and lived to practice them from a very young age. Theory and practicality were interwoven seamlessly. 

At a gurukul everyone was considered equal when they entered and all students or shishyas were welcomed with open arms. This was in sharp contrast with today’s commercial arrangement where the ability to pay opens doors to the best educators. The gurukul focused on performance to set students apart, and there were no fees. Students and teachers lived in the same compound and students primarily paid their gurus back by working on the premises, as guru dakshina – which was also a part of developing their life skills. Monetary compensation did exist but was just one of the ways of ‘paying’ for education.

At Gurukuls, employable skills and skills used in real life were taught instead of pure text book jargon. Practical knowledge was given the highest importance and the focus was not on scoring high marks and percentages as is prevalent today. The entire system concentrated on implementing and doing things which would impact the world and allow the individual students to grow up and add value to society and grow personally. 

Importantly, the concept of homework was non-existent, and replaced instead with practical application. This helped students stay focused on learning skills that would make them complete individuals with the right values to progress themselves, their families and the nation. The modern debilitating race for ranks was completely absent. Instead, ethics and practical values were at the forefront. 

The unfortunate turning point in this valuable system came in 1835 when the British colonial rulers replaced it with the modern system of theory. Education started becoming increasingly commercial while students became shortsighted – focusing only on the next exam and the percentage they wished to secure. Today’s education is largely disconnected with employability. 

For India to rise out of the current state of stagnation in certain areas, these values and the original vedic form of education needs to be reintroduced to students from a very young age. It is time we support the government to move back to the future – towards this form of education.

The author is MD, CEO at Skill India Academy and Mentor of Change – NITI AAYOG.