Indian Education: Historical Development and Committees/Commissions
Expect matching questions (which committee, which recommendation) and short notes on landmarks. Attach one marker idea to each name.
Ancient and colonial
Vedic education was oral, religion-centred and residential (gurukul); Buddhist education was monastery-based, with Nalanda and Vikramshila; Islamic education centred on the maktab and madrasa. The Charter Act 1813 sanctioned one lakh rupees for education. Macaulay's Minute (1835) made English the medium, aiming to create clerks. Wood's Despatch (1854), the "Magna Carta" of English education, introduced grants-in-aid and departments of public instruction. Hunter (1882) stressed primary and secondary expansion; Sadler (1917) university and secondary reform; Hartog (1929) rural education and quality, naming wastage and stagnation.
National
Wardha Scheme/Basic Education (1937) made a craft the centre of a self-supporting curriculum (Gandhi's idea, Zakir Husain committee). Sargent Plan (1944) proposed universal compulsory education. Radhakrishnan (1948-49): university education. Mudaliar (1952-53): secondary education, multipurpose schools, vocationalisation. Kothari (1964-66): 10+2+3 pattern, common school system, work experience, 6 per cent of national income for education. NEP 1986: Operation Blackboard, Navodaya Vidyalaya, minimum levels of learning; POA 1992. NEP 2020: 5+3+3+4 structure, foundational literacy and numeracy, mother-tongue medium, multidisciplinary higher education, 6 per cent of GDP target.
Worked example
"Which report recommended 10+2+3?" Answer: Kothari Commission, 1964-66. Reasoning: Mudaliar reorganised the secondary stage, but the 10+2+3 structure and the 6 per cent funding norm are Kothari's markers - hold the marker idea, not the date alone, and the names do not swap.
Traps
Attributing Basic Education to Kothari; mixing Macaulay 1835 with Wood's Despatch 1854; crediting 10+2+3 to Mudaliar; confusing the Sargent Plan with the Radhakrishnan Commission.