Education in Ancient India c6.s1.40

c6.s1.40

Government Help elsewhere: The failure to organise an educational department might appear to the modern reader as a blemish in the ancient Indian state organisation. A glance at the contemporary history shows, however, that the states in the West also had not only no State Education Departments, but were not accustomed to give any substantial grants to educational institutions started by private individuals. Schools in the Middle Ages in Europe were dependent not on the State but on the Church; it was the latter which provided for the expenses, supplied teachers and moulded aims and ideals.¹ Famous English Universities like Oxford and Cambridge grew out of no Order of Government or Resolution of Parliament: they were originally centres of scholars united by their zeal and aptitude for learning, and anxious to hand down the torch of learning to the next generation. Their sincerity and scholarship attracted donors like Walter de Merton and Wykenham, who came forward to provide hostels and colleges for residence and study.² Down to the 19th century, education was financially dependent on the Church, private benefactors and corporations. In England, the state gave its first grant for primary education as late as 1832, and that was of £2000 only. In France the state took up the cause of education only after the great Revolution of 1788. It was in Germany that the state first began to zealously champion the cause of education; Martin Luther maintained that education ought to be supported by state and his advocacy proved effective. In India, however, the state recognised its responsibility to the cause of education since earliest times, as we have shown already. It believed in the spontaneous growth of education and so did not organise its own educational department.