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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

The Changing Face of Education in India

Education is no longer limited to textbooks, with students gaining access to vast knowledge through digital platforms and online learning. The Indian education system has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years. From traditional gurukul-based learning to a highly structured, policy-driven, and technology-enabled system, the journey reflects India’s social, economic, and cultural evolution. Education has played a central role in shaping generations of learners, adapting...

The Changing Face of Education in India

Education is no longer limited to textbooks, with students gaining access to vast knowledge through digital platforms and online learning. The Indian education system has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years. From traditional gurukul-based learning to a highly structured, policy-driven, and technology-enabled system, the journey reflects India’s social, economic, and cultural evolution. Education has played a central role in shaping generations of learners, adapting continuously to the changing needs of society and the economy. The evolution of education in India can be traced through several significant changes that have shaped learning over the decades. In ancient India, education was primarily delivered through the gurukul system, where students lived with their teachers and learned scriptures, philosophy, mathematics, warfare, and life skills. The focus was on holistic development rather than exams or grades, with learning extending beyond academics to character-building and practical knowledge. With the arrival of colonial rule, a formal, Western-style education system was introduced. This system emphasised the English language, standardised curriculum, and written examinations, which became the foundation of modern schooling in India. After 1947, India focused heavily on expanding access to education. Schools and universities were established across rural and urban areas to ensure that a larger section of the population could benefit from formal learning opportunities. The aim was to improve literacy rates and build a skilled workforce for nation-building. Over time, boards like CBSE and ICSE helped standardise education across the country, creating a more uniform academic framework for students. Policy Changes In recent years, education has shifted towards skill-based learning, digital integration, and holistic development. A major milestone in this journey is the introduction of the National Education Policy 2020, which focuses on reducing rote learning, encouraging critical thinking and creativity, introducing vocational training at the school level, using a multilingual learning approach, and offering flexible subject choices. These reforms seek to make learning more relevant, engaging, and aligned with the needs of the modern world. Digital learning platforms, smart classrooms, and online education have also become widely accessible, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology has increasingly become an important part of the learning process, both inside and outside the classroom. Today’s students have access to vast knowledge through the internet, online courses, and global learning platforms. Education is no longer limited to textbooks, allowing learners to explore a wider range of subjects and perspectives. Modern education encourages understanding concepts rather than memorising answers. This helps students develop analytical and problem-solving skills that are increasingly valued in higher education and the workplace. With greater access comes increased competition. Students today often face academic pressure, performance expectations, and comparison through rankings and entrance exams. Digital Dependency While technology has improved learning, it has also increased screen time and reduced hands-on, real-world experiences for some learners. There is a growing focus on skills like coding, communication, entrepreneurship, and creativity, preparing students for global careers and changing workplace demands. Despite progress, challenges such as unequal access in rural areas, stress-related issues among students, and gaps between academic learning and industry needs still exist. Addressing these concerns remains important to ensuring that the benefits of educational development reach all sections of society. The Indian education system has evolved from a traditional knowledge-sharing model to a modern, technology-driven and policy-guided structure. While it has significantly improved access and quality, it continues to adapt to the needs of a rapidly changing world. The modern generation stands at a unique point where opportunities are vast, but so are expectations. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

Choking Mumbai

For decades, Mumbai was perceived as a rare urban oasis, where the saline sweep of the Arabian Sea blunted the worst ravages of India's air pollution. That illusion has now been dispelled. A meticulous four-year study by Respirer Living Sciences (RLS), using data from its AtlasAQ platform, reveals the bleak truth that the city’s air is thick with pollutants all year round, with no ‘clean season’ left.


Mumbai’s annual average levels of PM10 (particulate matter ten microns or less in diameter) have consistently breached the national safety threshold of 60 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³). This is not merely a seasonal malaise tied to cooler winter months, as once assumed. Alarmingly, the city’s pollution levels persist even through the hot season, a time when improved atmospheric dispersion should offer natural reprieve.


Across the city - from Chakala in Andheri East to Deonar, Kurla, Vile Parle West and Mazgaon - pollution has become an unrelenting, ubiquitous presence.


The culprits are well known: traffic emissions from a burgeoning number of vehicles; unregulated dust from frenzied construction; industrial activity in and around the ports; and a conspicuous lack of dust control measures. Mumbai’s ceaseless growth now risks becoming a chronic liability.


Worryingly, the regulatory response remains sluggish. Mumbai’s urban planning continues to treat clean air as a peripheral concern, not a foundational necessity. Development plans rarely integrate environmental impact assessments in a meaningful way.


A sharper, citywide strategy is urgently needed. Dust suppression rules at construction sites must be enforced strictly, with financial penalties for violators and incentives for best practices. Traffic management systems should be overhauled to ease congestion and encourage the use of public transport. Expansion of clean, reliable mass transit network needs to be urgently prioritised. In addition, comprehensive real-time air monitoring at the ward level should be deployed, enabling authorities to respond to localised pollution spikes swiftly rather than relying on citywide averages that conceal dangerous hotspots.


Longer-term, clean air targets must be hardwired into the city’s master planning and transport policies. Green buffers along major traffic corridors, stricter emission norms for commercial vehicles and incentives for rooftop gardens and urban afforestation could all play a part. Industrial zones near port areas should be subjected to rigorous air quality compliance measures, not token self-certifications. Private developers and large infrastructure firms, often among the worst offenders, must be made stakeholders in the clean air mission through binding regulations.


Mumbai’s commercial dynamism - as a magnet for migrants, entrepreneurs and investors - depends not just on glittering skyscrapers but on something far more basic: the ability to breathe. Unless clean air becomes an unshakeable priority, the city risks suffocating its own future. For a metropolis that prides itself on its resilience against terror attacks, monsoon floods and economic shocks, the real test will be whether it can muster the will to fight an invisible, pervasive enemy slowly corroding the lives of its 20 million citizens.

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