“I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and , therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”
Have you ever heard these words? Yes, it was February, 1835, a time when the British were striving to take control of the whole of India. Lord Macaulay, a historian and a politician, made a historical speech in the British Parliament, commonly referred to as The Minutes, which struck a blow at the centuries old system of Indian education.
I am not going to discuss whether Macaulay did really spoke these words or is it his intention to destroy the education system of India? People have different opinions. Some say Macaulay did not mean it from the meeting of minutes.
Accepting Macaulay spoke those words and his intention was to destroy the educational and cultural backbone of India. It happened in 1835 and India was free of British rule from 1947. Almost in 65 years of time why did the Indian leaders failed to bring back our own culture and education system? People keep on talking about this in books and articles why did we fail to take a step forward in changing the education system of our Nation. Is it not our responsibility? Do we still have a reason to blame Macaulay? Who should be blamed now? Yes, we have to blame ourselves. Did we ever teach our son or daughter about the ancient culture and how the education system used to be? Do the people who keep on talking about Macaulay spend at least few minutes teaching Bhagavad Gita, Vedic Mathematics, Sanskrit and Indian Culture to one person so that it would have made a change.
I feel it’s time to time to stop blaming someone else for our fault and start doing whatever we can to bring back our culture and education system that made Indians great all over the world.
- Why we can’t we introduce Sanskrit as a language from primary level in all the schools?
- Why can’t parents force the management of schools and colleges to teach Bhagavad Gita, epics and our Indian Culture for at least one hour a week?
- Why can’t research be done on How to bring back our Ancient culture to our country?
- Why cannot we teach our children the importance of ancient culture and the respect whole gives to Indian culture and the disadvantages of addicting to western culture?
It’s we who have to change, not the government or the leaders who lead India. Change has to start in every house and in every Individual. If we stop following the Western culture which is degrading the values of Indians and making Indian youth fit for nothing and educate them with whatever is necessary definitely you will see India, particularly youth in the way which many great visionaries wanted to be. So Indians stop blaming someone and start changing. Teach your own kids, your siblings, your neighbors about these things and implement them in their daily life. Not less than a century you can see our culture and system back to us.
