A Rough History of Education in India.

-- Bro 1 and Bro 2 are British Bros who have just started ruling India. --

Bro 1: Hey bro, let's rule these people. 

Bro 2: Okay bro, but how? 

Bro 1: It's simple bro, let's create a course on ‘how to be ruled’ and call it education.

Bro 2: Cool bro!!

- People come from England, and they implement a system of education. Soon after - a generation or two, or maybe more, I mean - a revolt happens. The one with Aamir Khan, I mean Mangal Pandey. There are hints of revolution. The Bros are worried.--

Bro 1: Hey bro, those other bros we called ‘to train the ruled’ kind of messed up. They taught them too much. Now, these people know too much about the west and the revolution. Remember what happened with the Americans, don’t you? They kicked us out. So, let's scale back. 

Bro 2: But how? Won't people revolt even more if we scale back?

Bro 1: Nah bro. We'll tell them that we are Indianising education. Taking away our western education and focusing more on practical, real-world skills and focusing less on academic studies.

Bro 2: But how will that help?

Bro 1: No academic studies → no western thought → no thought of revolution. Problem solved. And they think we are helping them by teaching them practical stuff. Hah. We will have 99 problems but the revolution won't be one!

Bro 2: Damn bro, this is some high-level ninja stuff.

-- It’s the late 1800s, Hunter commission sits down and makes education more practical and more Indian. A few acts follow it and the mission is accomplished. --

Bro 1: Bro, we are getting weaker in India and we might have to leave soon. 

Bro 2: Yeah bro, the world wars, the economic depression, and Mr. Gandhi are giving us a lot of headaches. Let's keep education on the backburner for a while. 

Bro 1: Cool bro. Let the Indians deal with it. 

-- People in the Indian freedom movement start talking about education.--

Bhai 1: Bhai, we need to Indianise education. These people are killing our culture. 

Bhai 2: Yes Bhai. Let's sit down and talk. We will make education great again. 

-- Many conferences happen for discussing the future of education in the decades before the Britishers left in 1947. --

Bro 1 & Bro 2: Bye India. We are gone now. 

Bhai 1: Bhai, we have to start the implementation now. Let's make education Indian again!!

Bhai 2: But Bhai, all the systems were set up by the Bros and all of them work based on their education - IAS, IPS, bureaucracies, universities, etc. Can't we wait? 

Bhai 1: I don't know.

Bhai 2: Also, there is a lot of instability in the country. People are killing each other Bhai.

Bhai 1: Okay! Okay! I get it. Let's wait. And yes, change the meaning of ‘I’ in IPS and IAS from Imperial to Indian. That should work for now.

Bhai 2: Great Idea. Will do.

-- The wait continues, commission after commission sits down to talk about education with the hope of making education great, practical, and Indian again. -- 

Bhai 2: Bhai we need to do something, it's been almost 20 years since independence. 

Bhai 1: Yes. Idea! Let's make a salad of all the suggestions those smart people in those commissions gave us and call it a National Policy for Education.

Bhai 2: That sounds slick and smart. I will take care of it. We will make education great, practical, and Indian again. 

--- The National Education Policy of 1968 happened but the Indian system - education and economic - still couldn't sustain itself. --

Bhai 2: Now what? That didn't work as we planned. 

Bhai 1: Don't worry. It's already been 20 more years. We can do better than last time. We will make 'The NEW Education Policy' and that will make Indian education great, practical, and Indian again. 

Bhai 2: Another one? 

Bhai 1: Just wait and watch. 

--- The New Education Policy of 1986. The political climate worsened in the country. Power changed hands. ---

New Bhai 1: Bhai, this policy by the other government is not great enough. Let's make it great again. Let's make it Indian again. Let's make the NEW Education policy NEW again.

New Bhai 2: Yes!! 

--- 1986 - early 1990s. More commissions. More recommendations. More reports. But before the New Policy could be made NEW again, power changed hands again.---

Bhai 1: We are back Bhai!!

Bhai 2: Yes!! But what to do with these NEW reports, the ones other bhais made, about OUR new policy?

Bhai 1: Nothing. We do nothing. We will make Education great again, as we promised in the New Policy. But since it is old now, we will ask more people to sit and ReNEW the NEW policy by discarding the NEW recommendations of the other bhais and asking our bhais to come up with NEW recommendations. 

New Policy - (New ‘Other Bhai’ Rec) + (New ‘Our Bhai’ Rec) = New New Policy 

Bhai 2: What? Won't the people be confused about Renewing the policy which was New in the first place?

Bhai 1: Don't worry. We will call it by a different name. 

-- The Revised Program of Action 1992 for the New education policy comes into existence soon after the economic liberalization of India happens. That is, India moves towards capitalism. A lot of companies come to India in search of cheap labor and in the process the IT and other sectors boom. India's boom starts.--

Bhai 2: Bhai these companies are coming into India and it is great. A lot of people are getting employed and our education system is also great. 

Bhai 1: Yes!! See, I told you so. 

Bhai 2: You did? (waits for a response and then changes the topic) Anyways… But what about those people whom we made Indian again by teaching them in regional languages? These companies need people who speak English. They won't hire people educated in regional languages.

Bhai 1: Don't worry. Someday, someone will figure something out. 

-- NEP 2020. We will make education great, Indian and practical again. --