The Indian people, historically, have attended to matters of teaching and learning with a sense of sacredness. In a glorious bygone era, about 1,000 years back, India fuelled a knowledge revolution and was considered the Education Capital of the World.

Education historians have highlighted the multi-disciplinary nature of Indian Universities which triggered research-based learning and had something for everyone to explore and experiment.

According to research, The University of Takshila, which is known to have existed at least around 6 Century BC, Vikramshila University, Nalanda University, Kanthaloor University were only some of the outstanding Indian Universities where students from around the world over desperately sought admission.

A phenomenon similar to Indian students frantically seeking admission into an Oxford, Stanford, MIT or Ivy League College in the 21st Century.

Nalanda University, 500AD to 1300 AD, is said to be the oldest University in the world. It was an internationally renowned Buddhist University set up during the Gupta Empire, situated approximately 90 km from Patna. Globally renowned, the university received patronage from both Buddhist and non-Buddhist quarters. Vikramshila University, another Buddhist University set up in Bihar, was in fact set up in response and to combat some of the failings of the Nalanda University.

It is evident that failings, ups and down were part of the education curriculum and system even back then, but so were systems of rectifications, modifications and improvements. Kanthaloor University, also popularly known as the Nalanda of the south, was situated in Thiruvanthapuram (Trivandrum, Kerala), the city of Lord Ananta (Vishnu). This university was more popular than Nalanda University and Vikramshila University for the wider subject choice range it offered, 65 subjects to choose from and only 95 students in a batch.

Takshila, the city, was founded by the brother of Lord Ram-Bharat, at the banks of the Indus in present day Punjab. Bharat left the Takshila to be ruled by his son Taksha, a cosmopolitan city situated at the crossroads of Asian trade routes. The University of Takshila was based on Vedic principles and was multi-disciplinary. Some of the famous professors from this university are Panini and Chanakya.

Well-established eco systems were in place to support these universities. For instance, the Nalanda University was funded by 100 villages surrounding it. It had state-of-the-art infrastructure, a library nine storeys tall, eight lecture halls and 100 lectures a day. With a capacity of around 8,500-10,000 students and 1,500 teachers, it had a brilliant teacher-student ratio of around 6 students to a guru!

Then there was the Ashram Education Systems, which was not specific to one campus or location but rather spread over several locations based on the expert’s availability. Each such Ashram was subject specific and supported the learner to master a skill and then proceed to another ashram for another subject or skill, this was the process followed to attain the degree.

Like that of Rishi Vyasa, author of the Mahabharata or that of Rishi Vishwamitra, guru of Lord Ram and Lakshman and the author of the Gayatri Mantra. These structural choices embedded in the Indian education system, at the time, are reflective of the fact that the society and educators recognised that one size does not fit all!

Due to invasions and conquest by foreigners, spread over hundreds of years, India suffered massive loss of its culture, heritage, ethos, languages and spirit. India lost a lot, but at the same time, managed to tightly hold on to its soul. It is the potential in this soul of India that needs to be tapped again and realized.

In the year 2007, Dr George Gheverghese Joseph from the University of Manchester, recognised that scholars in India predated Sir Isaac Newton’s discoveries at least by 250 years. According to him, the Kerala School identified the infinite series-one of the basic components of calculus, in about 1350 and the discovery is therefore wrongly attributed to Sir Isaac Newton.

The researchers have circumstantial evidence to prove that Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India. His popular book, The Crest of the Peacock: the Non-European Roots of Mathematics, contains many such revelations. Many scholars and researchers around the globe are working on giving due credit to where it belongs, to such significant body of works.

In India, however, the quality and magnitude of such work is dismal, largely because of our own colonial hang-ups and disbelief in a glorious bygone era. In the year 2010, the Government of India made efforts to revive the erstwhile Nalanda university and titled it as an Institute of National Importance, in an attempt to recognise India’s education heritage.

Moving forward, a lot will need to be done if the values of the lost education heritage of India need to be tapped into and made relevant for the times today.

NEP as Test Case for The Global South

In December 2002, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, inserted Article 21-A into the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education for all children aged group six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, states that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.’

‘’The high respect for teachers and the high status of the teaching profession must be restored so as to inspire the best to enter the teaching profession’’, says the National Education Policy 2020. The NEP refers to India’s National Economic Policy 2020. It is a major modern India reform of India’s education system which focuses on holistic, flexible and multidisciplinary education aligned with 21st century needs.

It replaces the old 10 years + 2 years of schooling system and introduces the 5 years + 3 years + 3 years+ 4 years curricular and pedagogical restructuring of school education. It targets universal education from pre-school to secondary education by 2030, aims for 100 percent gross enrolment ratio in school education by 2030 and 50 percent in higher education by 2035. The proposed system of education emphasises on critical thinking, skill development, technology use and vocational training and is Indias road map to educational transformational.

NEP 2020 has applicability features that extend beyond India, particularly to the Global South, countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America that share histories of colonialism, inequality and development challenges. With their youthful populations and diverse cultural contexts, these nations face similar pressures where inclusive education reforms can be transformative.