|
 Prof V T Titus was Tamil Nadu's first Director of School Education and its third Director of Collegiate Education. His lectures at the Presidency College, Madras, are remembered by his students for their erudition and vigour. He was Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University at a time the university was passing through difficult times because of Naxalite influence on students. After retirement, he taught at an elementary school for seven years, reflecting his commitment to that vocation. He is the author of the book "Rethinking on Education in Tamil Nadu". Recently, he lent his name to the protest against the move to have Tamil as the medium of instruction for primary school children. His views are eagerly sought by policy makers on various matters relating to education.
Despite his advanced age, Prof Titus spent over two hours with Chennaionline sharing his views on collegiate education: how it evolved, the problems it faces today. There could be no better start to Chennaionline's new series on the colleges of
Chennai.
Q: When did the concept of modern education come to India?
A: There was no concept of modern education in India before the British came. There was higher learning, for example Sanskrit and Persian, but this was mainly associated with religious purposes. Even after the East India Company came, they were more concerned with trade, not education. There were a few missionaries teaching the Bible and English as a language.
Q: When did this change?
A: This changed when the British government took over the administration of India. In 1854, the Department of Public Instruction was set up to look after school education. And in 1857, three universities were set up under the Queen's Charter. These were at Madras (Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta.
Q: What did these universities teach?
A: It was mainly the Humanities - English as a language, History, Geography, Moral Science. Mathematics was called Mensuration and Calculation at that time. Science entered only in the 1880's. The first institution to come up in Madras was the Presidency College. Slowly, the medical college, law college, etc were set up. The engineering college in fact was a survey school under the military.
Q: Was the progress quick?
A: Actually, the progress was quick till Lord Curzon, then Viceroy, decided to go slow because there were not enough jobs for those who came out of the educational institutions. But the First World War changed all that. India was not granted the promised Dominion Status and Mahatma Gandhi called for a boycott of Western institutions including schools.
Q: And then…
A: It was only in the 1920's, when education became a transferred subject to Indian ministers, that India shook itself out of sleep where education was concerned. The Freedom Movement was the result of English education. Educated people wanted more power. The Second World War was the next turning point. People realised that education was essential for progress. They realised that we would have to make things, automobiles for instance, ourselves. The desire for learning became widespread. More and more colleges came up. More and more subjects were introduced, especially in the sciences. Progress was very rapid in college education, but unfortunately, this was not reflected in primary education.
Q: Talking of problems, could you talk about some problems being faced today?
A:
-
 Education is being seen as a means for jobs and not as an end in itself. Especially because of the desire to get jobs in the government, education is in demand.
-
This scramble for jobs has led to education becoming a major source of conflict. What in the 19th and early 20th centuries was a source of unity has now become a source of conflict between communities.
-
People are not hardworking. Values have gone. Education is not imparting values, only teaching the tricks of the trade.
-
Talking of self-financing institutions, there is nothing wrong with people helping themselves. The demand for higher education is so much. But the government must monitor. That is the government's responsibility. And if there is malpractice it should be stopped.
-
The teachers' trade union mentality. Salaries have gone up but quality of work has gone down.
-
Today's reforms become tomorrow's problems. Education has to be treated as a professional department and the right people have to be selected to manage it.
-
Finally, I will reiterate that for this country to achieve progress, we should focus on primary education.
-
Prof Titus has much more to say, and perhaps we can go back to him another day.
Ambujam Anantharaman |
