The credit for organizing education on a systematic basis goes to Akbar (1542–1605), a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I of England and undoubtedly the greatest of Mughal emperors. He treated all his subjects alike and opened a large number of schools and colleges for Muslims as well as for Hindus throughout his empire. He also introduced a few curricular changes, based on students’ individual needs and the practical necessities of life. The scope of the curriculum was so widened as to enable every student to receive education according to his religion and views of life. The adoption of Persian as the court language gave further encouragement to the Hindus and the Muslims to study Persian.

Akbar’s policy was continued by his successors Jahāngīr and Shah Jahān. But his great-grandson Aurangzeb (1618–1707) changed his policy with regard to the education of the Hindus. In April 1669, for instance, he ordered the provincial governors to destroy Hindu schools and temples within their jurisdiction; and, at the same time, he supported Muslim education with a certain religious fanaticism. After his death, the glory of the Mughal empire began gradually to vanish, and the whole country was overrun by warlords.

During the Mughal period, girls received their education at home or in the house of some teacher living in close proximity. There were special arrangements for the education of the ladies of the royal household, and some of the princesses were distinguished scholars. Vocational education was imparted through a system of apprenticeship either in the house of ustāds (teachers) or in kārkhānahs (manufacturing centres).

Muslim rulers of India were also great patrons of literature and gave considerable impetus to its development. Akbar ordered various Hindu classics and histories translated into Persian. In addition, a number of Greek and Arabic works were translated into Persian. Literary activities did not entirely cease even in the troubled days of later rulers. Men of letters were patronized by such emperors as Bahādur Shah and Muḥammad Shah and by various regional officials and landlords.

Such is the history of Muslim education in India. It resembles ancient Indian education to a great extent: instruction was free; the relation between the teachers and the taught was cordial; there were great centres of learning; the monitorial system was used; and people were preoccupied with theology and the conduct of life. There were, however, several distinctive features of Muslim education. First, education was democratized. As in mosques, so in a maktab or madrasa all were equal, and the principle was established that the poor should also be educated. Second, Muslim rule influenced the system of elementary education of the Hindus, which had to accommodate itself to changed circumstances by adopting a new method of teaching and by using textbooks full of Persian terms and references to Muslim usages. Third, the Muslim period brought in many cultural influences from abroad. The courses of studies were both widened and brought under a humanistic influence. Finally, Muslim rule produced a cross-cultural influence in the country through the establishment of an educational system in which Hindus and Muslims could study side by side and in which there would be compulsory education in Persian, cultivation of Sanskrit and Hindi, and translation of great classics of literature into different languages. Ultimately, it led to the development of a common medium of expression, Urdu.

Education in the Muslim era was not a concerted and planned activity but a voluntary and spontaneous growth. There was no separate administration of education, and state aid was sporadic and unsteady. Education was supported by charitable endowments and by lavish provision for the students in a madrasa or in a monastery.

The Muslim system, however, proved ultimately harmful. In the early stages genuine love of learning attracted students to the cultural centres, but later on “the bees that flocked there were preeminently drones.” The whole system became stagnant and stereotyped as soon as cultural communication was cut off from the outside world because of political disturbances and internecine wars. The Indian teachers were reduced to dependence on their own resources, and a hardening tradition that became increasingly unreceptive to new ideas reduced the whole process to mere routine.

The Tang dynasty (618–907 ce)

The Tang was one of China’s greatest dynasties, marked by military power, political stability, economic prosperity, and advance in art, literature, and education. It was an age in which Buddhist scholarship won recognition and respect for its originality and high intellectual quality and in which China superseded India as the land from which Buddhism was to spread to other countries in East Asia.

The Tang was known for its literature and art and has been called the golden age of Chinese poetry. There were thousands of poets of note who left a cultural legacy unsurpassed in subsequent periods and even in other lands. Prose writers also flourished, as did artists whose paintings reflected the influences of Buddhism and Daoism.

One of China’s greatest gifts to the world was the invention of printing. Block printing was invented in the 8th century and movable type in the 11th century. The first book printed from blocks was a Buddhist sutra, or set of precepts, in 868. Printing met the demand created by the increase in the output of literature and by the regularized civil service examination system. It also met the popular demand for Buddhist and Daoist prayers and charms. One historian (Kenneth Scott Latourette) noted that “as late as the close of the eighteenth century the [Chinese] Empire possibly contained more printed books than all the rest of the world put together.”

Education in the Tang dynasty was under the dominant influence of Confucianism, notwithstanding the fact that Buddhism and Daoism both received imperial favours. A national academic examination system was firmly established, and officials were selected on the basis of civil service examinations. But Confucianism did not dominate to the extent of excluding other schools of thought and scholarship. Renowned scholars were known to spurn public office because they were not satisfied with a narrow interpretation of Confucianism. Artists and poets were, in general, rebellious against traditional Confucianism.

An emperor in the 5th century ordered the establishment of a “School of Occult Studies” along with the more commonly accepted schools of Confucian learning. It was devoted to the study of Buddhism and Daoism and occult subjects that transcended the practical affairs of government and society. Such schools were often carried on by the private effort of scholars who served as tutors for interested followers.

The schools of Tang were well organized and systematized. There were schools under the central government, others under local management, and private schools of different kinds. Public schools were maintained in each prefecture, district, town, and village. In the capital were “colleges” of mathematics, law, and calligraphy, as well as those for classical study. There was also a medical school.

Semiprivate schools formed by famous scholars gave lectures and tutelage to students numbering in the hundreds. Students from Korea and Japan came to study in China and took back the lunar calendar and the Buddhist sects, as well as the examination system and the Confucian theories of government and social life. Chinese culture also penetrated Indochina.

The examination system was at this time given the form that remained essentially unchanged until the 20th century. Examinations were held on different levels, and for each a corresponding academic degree was specified. Interestingly, there was provision for three degrees, not unlike the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctor’s degrees of modern times. The first degree was the xiucai (“cultivated talent”), the second the mingjing (“understanding the classics”), and the third the jinshi (“advanced scholar”). The name of the second degree was in later periods changed to juren (“recommended man”). An academy of scholars later known as the Hanlin Academy was established for select scholars whom the emperor could call upon for advice and expert opinion on various subjects. Membership in this institution became the highest honour that could be conferred upon those who passed the jinshi degree with distinction. To be appointed a Hanlin scholar was to be recognized as one of the top scholars of the land. Among the services that they rendered were the administration and supervision of examinations and the explanation of difficult texts in literature, classics, and philosophy.

Examinations were given for students of medicine and for military degrees. The study of medicine included acupuncture and massage, as well as the treatment of general diseases of the body and those of eye, ear, throat, and teeth.

The Song (960–1279)

The Song was another dynasty of cultural brilliance. Landscape painting approached perfection, and cultural achievement was stimulated by the invention of movable type (first made of earthenware, then of wood and metal). This advance from the older method of block printing led to the multiplication of books; the printing of a complete set of the classics was a boon to literary studies in schools.

The rulers of Song were receptive to new ideas and innovative policies. The outstanding innovator of the dynasty was Wang Anshi, prime minister from 1068 to 1076. He introduced a comprehensive program of reform that included important changes in education; more emphasis was subsequently placed on the study of current problems and political economy.

Wang’s reforms met with opposition from conservatives. The controversy was only a phase of a deeper and more far-reaching intellectual debate that made the philosophical contributions of the Song scholars as significant as those of the Hundred Schools in the Zhou dynasty over a millennium earlier. Confucianism and the dominant mode of Chinese thinking had been subject to the challenge of ideas from legalism, Daoism, and Buddhism, and, despite the resistance of conservatives, the traditional views had to be modified. Outstanding Confucian scholars of conservative bent argued vigorously with aggressive proponents of new concepts of man, of knowledge, and of the universe. The result was Neo-Confucianism, or what some prefer to call rational philosophy. The most eminent Neo-Confucianist was Zhu Xi, a Confucian scholar who had studied Daoism and Buddhism. His genius lay in his ability to synthesize ideas from a fresh point of view. Song scholars distinguished themselves in other fields, too. Sima Guang’s Zizhi tongjian (“Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government”) was a history of China from the 5th century bce to the 10th century ce. The result of 20 years of painstaking research, it consisted of 1,000 chapters prepared under imperial direction. A volume on architecture was produced that is still used today as a basic reference work, and a treatise on botany contained the most ancient record of varieties of citrus fruits then known in China. No less worthy of mention is an encyclopaedia titled Taiping yulan.

The general pattern of the school system remained essentially the same, with provision for lower schools, higher schools, and technical schools, but there was a broadening of the curriculum. A noteworthy development was the rise of a semiprivate institution known as the shuyuan, or academy. With financial support coming from both state grants and private contributions, these academies were managed by noted scholars of the day and attracted many students and lecturers. Often located in mountain retreats or in the woods, they symbolized the influence of Daoism and Buddhism and a desire to pursue quiet study far away from possible government interference.