Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in Educación descolonizadora: reescolarización en la India * ** ISSN: 2007-7033 Navneet Sharma ShowkatThe industrialization Ahmad Mir and its consequential imperialism and colonialism Keywords: have impacted this world for three centuries. India has been a colony of the British Empire for two centuries. These eventful two centuries of Indian his- decolonization, re-schooling, indoctrination, - education, digenoustory did see education the influence system of was not graduallyonly the political displaced and and economical the colonial might model of saffronisation ofthe education “great” Britain, pervaded but underits influence the patronage on every from milieu the of colonial-state. Indian life. India’s The lan in- guage, pedagogy, evaluation and knowledge of the colonizer became natura- lis obligato for the population of the colony. India got independence in 1947 and took to the task of decolonizing education immediately. The attempts to decolonize education from various standpoints of political activism, univer- salism and are charted in this article. What decoloni- zing education should entail and how India has responded to this question in the last century and how the neo-liberal order has supported a particular ideology to have a dominant say in this process are concerns of this article. We analyse how re-schooling and indoctrination are projected as the most nationalist response for methodical decolonizing of education. La industrialización, y el imperialismo y colonialismo que trajo consigo, ha Palabras clave: tenido impacto en el mundo. En el caso de la India, esta se convirtió en una co- lonia del imperio británico durante dos siglos, periodo en el cual no solo pre- decolonización, dominó la fuerza política y económica de la “Gran” Bretaña, sino su influencia reescolarización, en cada espacio de la vida indígena. El sistema de educación indígena fue adoctrinamiento, desplazado poco a poco y el modelo colonial de educación se extendió bajo educación, el resguardo del Estado colonial. El lenguaje, la pedagogía, la evaluación y azafranismo el conocimiento del colonizador fueron impuestos a la población hasta 1947, año en que la colonia se independizó y emprendió la tarea de descolonizar la educación. En este artículo abordamos los intentos de descolonizar la edu- cación desde varias perspectivas del activismo político, el universalismo y el nacionalismo religioso. Qué implica descolonizar la educación, cómo la India ha respondido a esta cuestión y cómo el orden neoliberal ha promovido una ideología específica para dominar el proceso de descolonización educativa son los ejes que guían nuestro trabajo. Los resultados revelan que la reescola- rización y el adoctrinamiento se proyectan como una respuesta más naciona- lista para una descolonización metódica de la educación.

Submitted: September 3, 2018.| Accepted for publication: February 11, 2019. Recovered* from: https://sinectica.iteso.mx/index.php/SINECTICA/article/view/913 - DOI: 10.31391/S2007-7033(2019)0052-007 Assistant Professor in Department of Teacher Education, School of Education, Central University of Himachal Pra desh,** Dharmashala, India. His research interests are philosophy of education, educational theory and social science education. E-mail: [email protected] He is pursuing PhD from Department of Teacher Education, School of Education Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala. He has post-graduate degree in Education from Central University of Jammu, India. He is working on his doctoral thesis on Knowledge, Schooling and Education in Kashmir: A study of state in crisis and conflict. E-mail: [email protected] Introduction he advent of industrialization and its consequential imperialism and colonia- lism overshadowed the history of human civilization for three centuries. This Tonslaught began in the seventeenth century and continued till early twentieth century. This was not only a commercial and political entrapment of the colonies and the colonized but was also an extension of socio-cultural hegemonic dominance. The socio-cultural milieu of the colonized got overawed by the seemingly progres-

influenced by the political economy of the colony and the colonizer. The indigenous knowledgesive European and modernity. ways of knowing Education, were it’s characterized process and institutionalizationas brute, un-progressive were alsoand

describes one of the most fundamental historical developments of the twentieth the reason for economic and cultural backwardness. The process of ‘decolonization’

century. At the beginning of the last century, a few European empires ruled over a beinggreat partthe biggestof the earth’s colonizer surface as the and, adage thereby, was –Thea very empire large percentageon which the of sunthe worldnever sets–population. was to The reflect world the was vastness ruled of over the by geography few European controlled countries, by Britain. the ‘great’ Britain When the twentieth century came to an end, the world had transformed beyond -

recognition, with long freedom struggles almost 150 nation-states got their inde pendence and became part of the United Nations as full and equal members. This aretransformative many descriptions process of called decolonization decolonization and isevery now author an important ultimately field has of analyticalto decide study but there is as yet no consensus about what it really entails. Arguably, there-

obtainedhow to define their decolonization. constitutional independence As Bismarck (2012) and entered writes, the “… worldthere isstage the traditionaof interna- tionallist definition relations of as decolonization sovereign states.” as a process by which legally dependent territories This kind of transition was symbolized by these countries in the form of designing

betheir lucid own and flags, useful composing in its pragmatic new national thought, anthems it is also and quite joining narrow. the United By concentrating Nations as exclusivelyfull and equal on members.constitutional While change this definition and the political of decolonization reasons behind at first it, appearsit excludes to the economic, social, cultural and educational implications of this transformative - sal of the process of European imperial expansion with all its political, economic, social,process. cultural Alternatively, and linguistic there is consequences. the possibility of seeing decolonization as the rever

of both –territories and developments– that a strictly constitutional view neglects. It enablesThis definition us to analyse is methodologically and study the social, advantageous cultural, economic because it and allows educational for the analysis impli- - sis it implies, “that a territory has only been decolonized when it has been purged cations of its end. However, the problem with this approach is that in the final analy consequence the European expansionism has transformed the world over a period of every remnant of its colonial past” (Bismarck, 2012). It seems convincing as in

of almost 500 years and left a distinct imprint on large parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Possibly the most noticeable lasting legacy of European imperialism is the spread of languages like French, Spanish, and especially English throughout the Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India 2 Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx world but to argue that decolonization will only be complete once this imprint has been removed in its entirety from the countries/places ever colonized stretches the

- definition of the term to an extent stripping it of its analytical use. gence of an indigenous consciousness channelled into contention with colonialism.” ThereAlfred can (2009a) never be argues: such a“Decolonization thing as a clean can slate only when be achieved it comes through to decolonization. the resur

- bleGiven way the out numerous of this dilemma methodological is to analyze traps the of subject studying within decolonization, a larger context, finding instead the right balance between a too narrow and a too wide definition is not easy. One possi- - of concentrating exclusively on the relationship between the motherland (coloni- zer) and its dependent territory (colony). This holds true for the key period of de understandcolonization decolonization, during the three one decades has to afterremember the Second above World anything War, else when that the it majowas a rity of colonies worldwide gained their independence (at least constitutionally). To global phenomenon. And in its end its imprints are still obvious. Decolonizing education Decolonization is opposite to colonial ways of thinking and acting. It demands an indigenous starting point and an articulation of what decolonization means for in- digenous peoples of different countries. The breakdown of Western empires and the entry of non-Western states into the international states system was one of the

- most gigantic political processes of the twentieth century (Sium, Desai & Ritskes, 2012). When a colony achieves political independence, one of the many tasks it sub - sequently takes upon itself is towards the ‘decolonization’ of its educational culture. rriculum and syllabi, if only to bring about the minimum of changing the ‘law-breaking Elder (2018) argues, “Decolonization characteristically includes rewriting the cu observes that colonial education is a citadel of slavery that denies learners object les- insurgents’ to the ‘nation’s heroes’ in the struggle for independence.” Gandhi rightly- tion aimed to develop a system of education that facilitates democratic life and eco- sons in liberty and self respect (Adjei, 2007). Gandhi’s decolonizing process of educa and inequity –a challenge faced by contemporary India even more–. The modern Eu- ropeannomic self-sufficiency education and ratherschooling than was one perceived that perpetuates as empowering older systems and liberating. of dependence - tion project. India has a history of long freedom struggle of almost hundred years In this article we attempt to map India’s response with respect to colonial educa in India began in early twentieth century. The responses to colonial education and vehementand achieved opposition political to freedom it in India in 1947.can be Confrontation largely categorised towards into colonial three. One, education which comes from educational thinker and philosopher Rabindra Nath Tagore, where he calls upon to confront colonialism not by nationalism but by internationalism –“Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high, Where the world is not broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls...”. The second response which evolved out of political resistance to colonialism was from Gandhi where he attempts to counter colonial education by Nayi Talim

(New Education) which was to help the colonized citizen achieve economic and political Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx 3 liberty. The third response came from the values and mores of religion where re-

independence, the desire of the Indian nation to be in the super power leagues or to beligious counted education as developed was seen country as an ledindigenised it to imitate response colonial to education colonial education. model all overPost Nayi Talim - - duals/institutionsagain. Gandhi’s to conserve and them Tagore’s as relic. Universalism The neo-liberal were relegatedorder of the to economythe peri andphery political in India’s empowerment approach to ofre-modelling the people refurbishededucation and the were agenda left of to nationalism. certain indivi In this article, we mapp how nationalistic education is seen as the only legitimate response to the decolonization of the minds of the people. This article emphasises that nationalization and/or Indianization of education retains the colonial structu- res, institutions and pedagogy of colonial model of education and only attempts to - cess of reschooling is more about indoctrination into a particular ideology, rather thanbring promoting the change and into supporting the curriculum. the inquisitiveness Moreover, this and article the underlinesrationality ofthat the the essen pro- tially argumentative Indian. - while colony-nation has to face. The attempt to move away from the shackles of Decolonizing education has it’s own quagmires and dilemmas which every erst - ropeancolonial education influence onwhich cultural instilled and thesocial idea milieu of nation/nationalism has it’s own challenges. in the Thepopulace colonial of model of education can be credited for that it was the influence of the English/Eu people deride the social evils. In the Indian scenario, the practice of ‘sati’ its colonies. It was influence of the English/European education systems that made- rry, child marriage was abolished and the access to schooling and education (widowbecame availableburning on to theeveryone pyre of irrespective the husband) of the gets class, abolished, caste, colour, widows creed got andthe rightgender. to remaIt was

the influencenation. Though of this modernthis turned education out to thatbe counter-productive people could appreciate to the differences agenda of andco- lonialism-peoplediversity among themselvescame together and and could sought believe freedom in the fromidea theof ‘unity’ colonizers as ‘citizens’ and their of imperialistic mechanisations. - tion. It was to produce civic, loyal citizenry and bureaucracy which will facilitate the rule The of intentcolonizer. of the It aimedEnglish/European to produce people education who system are native/indigenous was far away from but unifica would

- be alike their rulers in thought and action. Macaulay in his infamous speech called ‘Macaulay’s minutes on education in India’ emphasised that education would pro duce citizens which would be brown (sic) in colour but will be English in thought bruteand action. and uncultured Moreover natives. this was It further to legitimize legitimized ‘downward the relationship filtration’ between theory schoo where- knowledge was supposed to flow from selected few civilized higher ups to all the-

ownling and culture economic and country-men. mobility as those who could speak and write the colonizers’ lan guage were accommodated in government jobs and thus were ‘alienated’ from their -

peopleAfter and gaining to instil political national independence pride. These from colonies their also respective suffered colonizers,from the strife the of erst the while colonies spent a lot of energy in decolonizing the mind, body and spirit of it’s

Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India 4 Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx and religion-based division; and the geography and demography became the basis imperial policy of ‘Divide and Rule’. The Indian sub-continent did see the communal- tries now wishing to instil national pride in its citizenry looked up to the education for creation of countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. These independent coun butsystem. to see The and call project for unity each amongst other as citizens enemies to tofight keep and the grow nationalist had to look pot forstirring different and boiling.‘villains’ The once education the colonizers system left. also So suffered these countries this quagmire and their as it polity had been had notasked option to instil national pride while simultaneously teaching harmony and peaceful relations with fellow/neighbouring nations. learning science and technology to help the nation grow. India is probably the only In India, the first two decades post-independence witnessed emphasis laid on in its constitution. The western economic and social growth model was imitated withoutnation which a speck has of put scepticism. the ‘scientific The temperament’institutions of ashigher one oflearning the directive in science, principles engi- neering and technology grew at a rapid pace even at the cost of universalization of primary education. These institutions were hailed as harbingers of modern era science which became the talisman for growth was western science and was the one whichand growth evolved and and technology originated marvels with European were hailed modernity as ‘temples’ and ofthe modern renaissance. India. The

Even the medicinal and health practices which were indigenous in nature were lookednative science/scientificupon as crude, orthodoxical method was and frowned uncouth upon and asthe a westernmake-shift medicine arrangement. system alone was hailed as science. The education system of India and other colonies got who differed from this view was labelled as a crude aboriginal. over-awed by the seemingly progressive uniform pedagogy and evaluation. Anyone In Indian scenario, the caste strife deepened the divide and many caste leaders thought that colonial model of education was the only way to break away from sanskritic-hegemonic brahminical system of education. It was for these reasons that Gandhian response to colonial education by Nayi Talim got relegated to periphery in Indian Education system. The universalism and internationalism prophesied by Ra- - bindra Nath Tagore became redundant with more frequent conflict with neighbou- lismring countries.was in such The mess Indian that sub-continent internationalism did andsee universalismmany wars on could full-fledged not make scales any with India, Pakistan and China being at loggerheads. The idea of nation and nationa (Vasudhaiva kutumbakam influence on the Indian psyche which claimed once that whole of Earth is one family In India, one is struck by various visions and conceptions of decolonization and –Universal brotherhood). butwith is its more similarities of political or differencesideology of withhindutva saffronisation of education (saffronisation- is an Indian political neologism named after saffron robes worn by Hindu ascetics, fact it is an imperfect and slavish imitation ofin that action). hegemonic It is usually system, believed a caricature. by ex Theponents agenda of of decolonization that theirs somehow is a bold became revolt theagainst cornerstone western ofhegemony, religious butnatio in- nalism where upon minority communities (Muslims in case of India) are projected as the biggest hindrance in nation’s growth. The practitioners of any other model of Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx 5 decolonization process were soon labelled as either true utopian or as anti-national.

cultural awakening of India before independence appear to speak in the same vein Mahatma Gandhi, Radhakrishnan, and other leaders of both the political and the-

but the disturbing new trend is a narrowed, bigoted version of ‘Spiritual Value’, lea - ning explicitly on the Hindu heritage. favourIt is pertinent of a broad, to tolerant mention humanism. here that the The Indian preamble Constitution declares bears among the its traces sacred of agoals his torical context of religious disagreement and conflict, and it comes down resolutely in

basis‘liberty of ofreligion thought, in expression,matters of publicbelief, employment,faith and worship’. or in Theadmission secularism to state-funded implied by educationalthe Indian Constitution institutions, not or inonly the indicates approach non-discrimination of public administration; among it citizens does not on stop the there. It goes on to commit itself to protecting the right of all religions.

reachingEven K agenda M Munshi, to maintain the orthodox the historic Hindu trends. leader, It actuallycategorically harks insisted back to theon inclusionperiod of of the Christian’s right to proselytize. Yet, saffronisation of education is part of a far- not taken then again faces the nation at a point to which it has returned in the course turmoil to which the secularism of the Constitution had been an answer. As if the road what appears to be purely regressive is also determined in some way by larger con- temporaryof its wanderings. development. However, Neo-colonialism the problem todayis not requiressimply that of its of success historical the regression;prevalence

with the present, and failing to answer the genuine needs of the present, are bound toof feudalbe overlaid or semi-feudal with deliberate ideas and self-hypnosis, practices. However, irrationality such and elements, savagery. being In anyout ofcase step it - gression. The ideology that has hypnotized the masses drawn by the saffron crew had itsis an genesis over-simplification in early colonial to timessay that during it is onlythe colonial a question transformation of reactionary of revivalIndian society,and re the introduction of modernity under colonial patronage. The uncritical and fanatical worship of a chauvinist version of our past is a pro-

- duct of the same mind-set. And it is natural for such a mind-set to submit to the ahegemony dependence of neo-colonialism. on western centres How of doeslearning colonialism for the very continue conceptions to shape of ouracademic cons andciousness? cultural It excellence. manifests itself This firstmental in a dependence lack of confidence is also inactively one’s ownpromoted creativity by wes and- tern powers for obvious reasons. Ours is a cruel dilemma as we can neither snap our

present dilemmas in tradition but this hardly excuses a supine surrender to the poi- sonedlink with charms the colonial of a reactionary type of modernity solution from at one the go, past. nor There find answer is an over-riding to many of need our for thorough revision of the structure of education all over the world.

followsThe International the laws of every Commission human undertaking, on Development growing of Education old and gathering constituted deadwood. with the Toworld’s remain leading a living educationists organism, bycapable the Unesco, of satisfying stated inwith its reportintelligence of 1972, and “Education vigor the requirements of individuals and developing societies, it must avoid complacency and routine. It must constantly question its objectives, its contents and its methods.”

Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India 6 Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx One of the problems the commission had warned all developing countries about had been the strong colonial traces in the present education systems of their coun-

- rrortries. the And legacy just as of the a one-time political motherand economic country effects or of someof colonialism other outside are strongly hegemony, felt today, most educational systems in Latin American, Asian and African countries mi The legacy of colonialism in the system of education and conceptions about edu- irrespective of whether they meet the nation’s present needs. cation in these unfortunate countries has been precisely summed up by Pieterse and Parekh (1995), they argued, Although the effects of British colonialism on different aspects of Indian life and thought varied a great deal, and led to much critical self-questioning, colonial rule did distort India’s understandingall, it encouraged of itsheteronomy, own past, present the tendency and future. to judge It also itself weakened by western India’s standards self-confidence and to andmake capacity western to approval explore andthe basisexperiment of is self-respect with alternative and self-esteem, ways of life and and especially thought. amongAbove the modernists for whom the west represented almost all that they valued. The way out of this predicament can be charted by the authors on following lines: “To be autonomous is to break through the categories of thought constructed by others, to think afresh and analyze one’s predicament and make one’s choices in terms one has rationally and independently arrived at.” Fortunately for us, Pieterse- and Parekh caution against rejecting modernity as it is “deeply inscribed in all areas colonialof its life constraints. (or nation) and is integral to its identity” and advocate critical appropria tion of its legacy in various fields so as to liberate the mind from the unconscious - - denceColonialism and self-reliance had thus ofmade the native.over the It inheritedis usually social believed and by mental exponents structures of Hindutva of tra thatditional theirs Indian is a boldsociety revolt in a againstfairly drastic western manner hegemony, and in butthe itprocess is an imperfect sapped the and confi sla- vish imitation of that hegemonic system, a caricature. The continuity of the colonial class-structure into independent India reinforced, and was itself in turn reinforced

Hindutva as the basis of Indian nationa- by, Hindu chauvinism. In the meantime, the former revolutionary later acquiescent theto British same domination,ideas in We, Vor D Our Savarkar, Nationhood invoked Defined . Then as now, the erroneous and lism, and the mentor of RSS in the 1950s and the 1960s, Guru Golwalkar, reiterated- lism and native ruling elites. fatal identification of the enemy has been the product of collusion between colonia Reschooling - rough and comprehensive critical analysis of colonialism itself, in all its subtle gui- Alcoff (2014) argues: “Decolonizing education requires first and foremost a tho ses.” As such, the starting point of decolonization is not a rejection of colonialism tobut re-imagine by replacing and the rearticulate dominant power, with the change, marginalized, and knowledge or as Fanon through (1968) a multiplici puts it,- tymake of epistemologies,it so “the last shall ontologies be first and and the axiologies. first last”. Decolonization The decolonizing cannot approach take seeksplace

Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx 7 without contestation. It must necessarily push back against the colonial relations

suggested that decolonization can only be “achieved through the resurgence of an of power that threaten Indigenous ways of being. Alfred (2009b) and others have- gued about European education system and emphasized that the main concern of theIndigenous system was, consciousness “the power channelled to narrate, orinto to contention block other with narratives colonialism”. from forming As Said and ar emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them.”

a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions we govern; a class of persons,In the wordsIndian ofin blood19th century and color, British but English colonial in official,taste, in the opinions, intention in morals, was to and“form in

The purpose of the colonial educational model, in other words, was not only to intellect” (Spivak, 1988). prepare select individuals from the indigenous population to facilitate the economic exploitation of the colony, but to actually instil in them the norms and expectations of the colonizer, replacing the indigenous systems of reference with those relevant to the colonial power, and in India the emerging notion of education imitates back to European model. The whole notion of education in India is moving towards the creation of indigenous colonization, in the backdrop of current government which

textbooks, syllabi/curriculum or creating ideal Bharatiya/Hindu citizens. Education iscame all about at helm the in processes 2014. Education employed is duringnot about acquisition content, ofnot knowledge just providing as we the learn right to ask questions. In order to acquire these components, pedagogy is given the central facet in which the learner occupies the important place who eventually becomes free thinkers, reformers, change agents, interlocutors and iconoclasts. The outcomes of any system of education ought to be premised as stated and enu-

not Hinduized. In the name of “Hinduization”, the Government of India and its pa- merated. Modes are varyingRashtriya that is, Swayamsevaklocalized/globalized/indianized, Sangh but certainly- hindu Ba- jrangraphernalia Dal, Hindu such Mahasabha as RSS, ( –National Volunteers Or ganization–. A outfit with authoritarian say in the present government) of history, eulogizing select individualsand other ultra-right and thinkers, outfits highlighting are desperate select to introducehistorical eventstheir curricula with glaring and Hindu subjectivity brand byof educationdistorting bycertain giving facts, preference imposing to selectparticular portions lan-

which are to be taken seriously because all these involve ideological and cultural inclinationguages such towards as Sanskrit one particularand glorifying world-view certain astexts against and otherdiscarding world others views –allthere of- by creating fanatical, clouded and frenzied mind-sets and thus preparing depraved minds in the form of cultural annihilators. - ved sex education from the state curriculum on the grounds that it offended Indian valuesIn 2007, on the the advice Chief of Minister Dina Nath of MadhyaBatra, who Pradesh, also suggested Shivraj Singh that yoga Chouhan, be added remo to

scholar of gender issues, who wrote that sex-education was aimed at combating abu- se;the shecurriculum also stated instead that offundamentalist sex education. organizations This view was were criticized attempting by S. Anandhi,to repress a

Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India 8 Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx Bharatiya Janata circular, declaring six text books written by Batra to be part of the state education sexuality. In June 2014, the Party government of Gujarat issued a - mercurriculum state education as supplementary minister, wholiterature. stated Originally that they werewritten compulsory. in Hindi, the books were translated into Gujarati, and were released by Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, the for Batra has indicated that the initiative for using the books came from the then Na-

- rendra Modi government in Gujarat and the books are found to carry a foreword from Modi. The books received severe criticism from historians as well as the popu lar press. Historian Romila Thapar stated that the books contained «not history, but Thefantasy”. process Irfan of Habib, decolonization another prominent which had historian, to be culturally described and themsocially as “hilarioustransformati but- vescary”. in nature He said remained that the politicalbooks were and being ideological. introduced The process as part ofwhich a political required program. social churning instead looked to overthrowing the insignias and symbols of colonialism. The process and decolonizing efforts took to turning back the clock. The educational processes, which required restructuring and reshaping of institutions, got struck with replacing, renaming and selective amnesia. The debate about what decolonization should entail and what a decolonized edu- cation should aim forgot abandoned and rechristened national pride and nationa- on indigenous learning practices and methods of knowledge construction. In the lism took to superficial change in content and curriculum rather than emphasizing absence of the above discourse it was obvious that ‘short-cuts’ and shorter ‘short- teachercuts’ were and taken teacher-training up to decolonize remained education. largely The driven pedagogy in the and colonial evaluative mode methods and fo- were not considered important enough in the process of decolonization. Similarly, llowed Bloom’s taxonomy in understanding class-room practices and management. Conclusion The above scenario where de-schooling was expected, we went ahead to achieve decolonization through re-schooling. In the process, the entire process of education remained colonial and the sub-set of curriculum was altered which was designed to the comfort of the government of the day. Therefore, every time the government changed in a newly independent nation, the emphasis was laid on re-writing history and curriculum. The rise of neo-liberal order in the last decade of the twentieth cen- tury supported the spread of right-wing ideology. The crony capitalism is bound to was striving to get decolonized. This further created new divides between English- mediumsupport populistschools andnationalism. native-language This had medium its influence schools. on Thethe educationquality debate system in educa which- tion was given a toss for outcome-based education and Ministry of Education gets a The humans of these erstwhile colonies with mistaken modernity and mispla- new name as Ministry of Human Resource Development. ced idea of citizenry are now engaged to become national bigots and voters of a particular political ideology and religious-nationalism. Otherwise, the decolonized Indian education means creating a questioning spirit and questioning without fear and favour. Indoctrination in garb of education, based on one world view inhibits

Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx 9 and constricts the learners in widening their horizons of understanding. Educa- tional system should facilitate intellectual freedom which would allow students to

through single mode and single world-view is detrimental for the present and fu- tureblossom of India. as innovative Education thinkers is for life and and translators. thus unfolds Suppression innumerable of knowledgehorizons of inpossi and-

educational models. bilities and understandings. As a result, it must not be an imitation of the colonized Acknowledgement

Authors are thankful to Prof Alberto Gomes, LaTrobe University, Melbourne, and Dr Jayshree Mathur, University of Delhi, Delhi, for their encouragement and guidance. References -

Adjei,Canadian Paul B. Journal (2007). of Decolonising Education. knowledge production: The pedagogic rele vance of Gandhian SatyagrahaEducating withto Schooling a (De) colonialand Education consciousness in Ghana,. Retrieved Canada.

Alcoff, L. M. (2014). from: http://www.academia.edu/12894297/Educating_with_a_De_colonial_Wasase: Indigenous pathways of action and freedom. Toronto, Consciousness Alfred, T. (2009a). Journal de la San- teCanadá: Autochtone University of Toronto Press. Alfred, T. (2009b, November). Colonialism and state dependency. , issue, 42-60. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/279660253_Towards_the_’tangible_unknown’Decolonization_Defining decolonization and_the_Indigenous_future The decolonization of educational culture: The case of India. Bismarck, H. (2012). . Britain: The British Scholar Society. Elder, J. W. (2018).The wretched of the earth Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1187130 Fanon, F. (1968). . New York: Grove Press. Pieterse, J. N. & Parekh, B. C. (1995). The decolonization of imagination: Culture,- tionknowledge and the and indigenous power. London: future. Atlantic Decolonization: Highlands, Indigeneity,Zed books. Education & Sium,Society Desai, núm. & Ritskes 1. Retrieved (2012). from: Towards https://www.researchgate.net/publica the ‘tangible unknown’: Decoloniza-

tion/279660253_Towards_the_’tangible_unknown’_Decolonization_and_Can the subaltern speak? the_Indigenous_future Spivak, G. C. (1988). Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Sharma / Ahmad. Decolonizing education: Re-schooling in India 10 Sinéctica 52 www.sinectica.iteso.mx