Education System :India - Korea

INTRO DUCTION

India and Korea are two Asian countries separated by vast continental landmass. Being oriental countries, the two nations share certain common oriental values like the attitudes towards the family certain social institutions, certain moral values and things like that which are distinct to Asian culture. Not enough is known about the historical links between India and Korea in the pre-modern times except that Buddhism went from India to Korea.

India has a long history of organized education. The Gurukul system of education is one of the oldest on earth but before that the guru shishya system was extant, in which students were taught orally and the data would be passed from one generation to the next.Like other East Asian countries with a Confucian heritage, South Korea has had a long history of providing formal education. Although there was no state-supported system of primary education, the central government established a system of secondary schools in Seoul and the provinces during the Choson Dynasty.

It is important to note that a colonial legacy, which marred both India and Korea for long-time, created an elaborate system of exclusionary education aimed at nurturing a privileged minority willing to play a second fiddle in the grand imperial project of Britain and Japan. This type of education system widened preexisting elitist tendencies of the past era. It effectively created a thin lair of aristocracy, which clearly saw its interest converging with the colonial system.

Independence from the colonial oppression brought an opportunity to redefine. Governments in both countries gave priority to heavily subsidize education and initiated many programs to make people aware of the value of education. Active state involvement created set of policies to enhance and upgrade national educational infrastructure. These efforts led to the rise of school enrolments, opening of new schools and universities, and the widening of education opportunities in remote areas.

The birth of child has been always considered as a very auspicious occasion. Right from that time, the parents and other relatives start researching in to even the very minute things, his name, his education, and much more; all those things that can affect this small little life at any point in his future.

Education, in today's time especially, has always been a very important concern for the parents. Nursery's to primary schools to higher schools and then graduation with finally ending up in the job is what forms one of the major ingredients of one's life. It never ends, as it continues throughout one's lifetime. Its not that you need to be master in some particular field and leave the rest, as life cannot go on like that. Sociology, cultural aspects, spiritual thoughts, environmental education apart from the field of your specialization are some of the other areas of education that a child learns naturally while living in his family, clan relatives, community, at his work. The knowledge gets sharpen as he gets more exposure in the world and thus it continues to grow endlessly.

Historical Cultural Facts:

Korea

Korean people have long respected Confucian learning and have attached great significance to education throughout Korean history. The first formal institution of higher education was known as Taehak (National Confucian Academy), built by the Kingdom of Koguryo in 372 AD. A similar institution for elite or higher education named Kukhak (The National Academy) was established in the Silla Kingdom (57 BC Ð'- 935 AD). The Packche Kingdom (18 BC Ð'- 660 AD) also stressed higher education and produced numerous scholars in various academic disciplines. The higher education in the Three Kingdoms tended to focus on the study of the Chinese classics of Confucian orientation in order to establish their aristocratic political and social systems. Like Taehak and Kukhak in the Three Kingdoms, Koryo (918-1392 A.D.) had educational institutions that educated the elite who led its aristocratic society in order to maintain their hereditary political and economic privileges.

From the beginning of the Choson Kingdom, Confucianism was a national religion. Choson rulers stressed Confucian education to train the civilian bureaucrats to lead their people, and to enable the people to follow Confucian ethics and values. Seongkyunkwan (Hall of Harmony or the National Confucian Academy) was established in the capital city during the reign of King Taejo (1392-1398 AD). The Seongkyunkwan eventually succeeded all other organizations, curricula, and functions of Kukchagam or Kukhak in the Koryo period. The students of the Seongkyunkwan, who were the offspring of the bureaucrats, consisted of two hundred seng-won (classical licentiates) and chin-sa (literary licentiate s). The curricula of the institution included Ku-che (Nine Subjects), i.e. Saseo (the Four Confucian Books) and O-Kyung (the Five Chinese Classics). The subjects were instructed by various teaching methods: reading, composition, argument, persuasion, praising, and epigrammatic poetry.

A new movement which called Silhak (Practical Learning) for modernization blossomed during the late 17th to the 18th century. A group of Choson scholars sought to devise practical ways to use academic knowledge to modernize state. With the introduction of Roman Catholicism and Western knowledge by the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911/1912 AD) of China, Choson scholars endeavored to create a modernized country. Unfortunately, these pioneers never reached their goal of reforming the Confucian Choson Kingdom politically, economically, socially, or educationally because the highly centralized bureaucratic politicians ignored the new religion and knowledge. Owing to the failure of the Silhak movement, the Korean people lost the chance to reform the old educational system. Therefore, the beginning of modern education in Korea was delayed until the late 19th century.

During the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), owing to the Japanese colonial education policy of "Japanaization," it was only possible for Japanese and a small minority of Koreans to access higher education. Most Koreans able to participate in higher education were pro-Japanese Koreans or the former Yangbans. Although a few common people could access higher education after to the abolition of the strict social hierarchy, most Koreans did not readily abandon traditional Confucian values and education. For this reason, it was still difficult for the Korean populace to participate in higher education during Japanese colonial times.

After liberation from Japanese rule in 1945, Korea actively tried to revert the elitist tendencies of the past. Moreover, rapid changes