Indian Knowledge Systems and Contemporary Education
Indian Knowledge Systems and Contemporary Education Ayesha Mohammad Rabban Shaikh (Mentee) Dr Pratima Mishra (Mentor) H.G.M. Azam College Of Education Dr P.A. Inamdar University, Pune, Maharashtra, India A few months ago, while sitting in on a school science period, I watched a teacher explain the water cycle using a diagram straight out of a Western textbook — evaporation, condensation, precipitation, neat arrows in a circle. It was accurate, and the students got it. But I kept thinking about my grandmother, who never read a textbook in her life, yet could tell you exactly when the monsoon would arrive by watching the ants, the wind, and the color of the evening sky. Nobody in that classroom would have called what she knew "science." And that, more than anything, is what got me thinking seriously about Indian Knowledge Systems, and why I think we've been underselling them for far too long. Growing Up Between Two Worlds I think a lot of us who grew up in India in the last...