The purpose of an education is to make mind, not careers.

Education is a process of learning. Education has not only meant getting a degree, a good job, and a decent career in the life of an individual. It is beyond the narrow meaning of understanding education. The purpose of education is to make humans self-conscious and aid in their self-development. Education is an infinite process for enhancing human intellect.

In the ancient era, the purpose of education was to make an individual self-reliant. Usually, education is given to those who will rule the country. In the ancient era, many world-class institutes were rooted in India, such as Nalanda, Taxila, and Vikramshila. The sources of education are the Vedas, religious or spiritual scriptures, and so forth. Education was provided in diversified disciplines such as rituals, phonetics (Siksha), metrics (Chandas), grammar (Vyakaran), astronomy (Jyotishvigyan), etc. However, ancient education emphasized religious and ethical education. It is useful to attain knowledge, wisdom, and reason. Education makes monarchs omnipotent. For instance, Chandragupta Maurya, the epitome of education, was made competent to rule a country like India by Chanakya.

In the medieval era, education was centered around religion. It was the era of the Catholic Church. Education was meant only for the wealthiest families. Usually, education was given to knights, who were armored soldiers. Education was given by monastics, and Clonmacnoise, the epitome of monasteries, was visited by scholars from all over Europe. Pupils would learn about religious manuscripts, how to write a chant, how to do mathematics, and how to use a sundial to read the time. However, education is different from today's understanding of it. 

In the modern era, there was a sudden shift from religious education to science education. It was an era of geographic discoveries, inventions, rationality, and logic above faith. The transition from abstraction to rationalism occurs through education. The Industrial Revolution era demanded a huge workforce, which resulted in a paradigm shift from religious education to skill-based education.

In the present context, the commercialization of education has led to the exploitation of pupils. Nowadays, education has become an industry generating huge profits. In the name of tuition fees, they demand a huge amount of money. For instance, colleges put up banners and hoard information about placements, and students are attracted by those banners and hoarding and are ready to pay fees whatever they demand and even donations. However, admission procedures are sometimes controversial due to the exclusion of honest students who don't have money. That's why students will take out student loans from banks. Banks get their spread out of it. hence, It will become a vicious cycle of student debt overhang and maybe jeopardize the economy.

"A class of persons, Indian in blood and color,

but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and intellect." 

                                                                                                       -Dr. N.S.R. Murthy

The way the Colonial regime established the education system was to have people obey their orders, uphold their hegemony, and do menial work. The anglicization of education creates a herd that behaves in the hope that they will get a decent career. For instance, in some schools, English becomes the primary language instead of the native language. It creates unique problems if we put it in the current context, such as the way the importance of native languages is diminishing, western-centric education, and lastly, education for getting a menial job, not for creating self-aware individuals. It might adversely impact society and politics and pose a threat to cultural erosion. A colonial mindset is rooted in our society. The paradox between cognitive development and the environment results in rote learning. For instance, if guardians want their children to study in English rather than their native language, the environment they live in may be entirely different, and the children will suffer. consequently, rote learning diminished the creativity of individuals.

In today's context, the capitalistic notion is entwined with the education system. which has as its chief principle the free flow of information without constraints. That resulted in the commercialization of education. Recently, the Government of India has allowed foreign institutions to set up campuses in India. Think about the kinds of syllabi, fee structures, and faculty of foreign institutions they will have more autonomy which creates concern. Education seems to be business rather than charity.

In today's context, education emphasizes quantitative achievement and enhancement, enrichment such as results, degrees, and certificates rather than qualitative facets of life such as value systems and morality. It is colossal in terms of coaching institutes, training centers, and online platforms that provide academic services. The current education system is designed around testing memory, which creates havoc among students who are at high stakes. This has resulted in growing concerns about mental health due to a fear of taboos or social stigmatization, etc. According to one survey, India has a high suicide rate compared to other developing nations, which shows that every 55 minutes, one suicide happens in India.

In general, society views education as something that leads to a decent career and a good job. It's way beyond this narrower understanding of education. then the question arises in my mind: "What is education?" What is the essence of education? Let's see it.

Education is the process of learning. According to Gandhi, every individual should have a basic education in their life. Basic education means it helps in the self-realization of an individual about their body, soul, and mind. Education must be based on its chief two principles, such as ethics and morality. Gandhi emphasizes the spiritual facets of education rather than the material. For instance, the concept of his basic education was given during constructive programs to make the Indian masses aware during a truce period of the freedom struggle. 

Education is a lifelong journey. We may like to learn from our past experiences, from some opinions, from some inspirational stories, from some informative articles, books, videos, audio, etc. Even we can learn from an ant, a squirrel, a fox, a lion, etc. That's why the stories(Panchtantra) for children were made to learn from there. Education isn't an end in itself; education is a means to living. The accumulation of our experiences increases from childhood to old age. First, experience is entwined with brain predictions. Secondly, brain predictions are entwined with stories. Thirdly, stories are entwined with emotions and behavior. lastly, behavior is entwined with our actions.  All processes are interlinked with learning. You should be admired for learning which can empower,  and enhance life.

The New Education policy of India,2020 emphasized the revival of Knowledge as well as the Applicability of that knowledge, Multidisciplinary, and value-based. More than sixty-five percent of the population is living in India. If we will have to reap demographic dividend then education is a way to achieve the goal of Human development.