‘Education is for you to get a good job!’ Doesn’t this statement sound familiar? Everyone has encountered this statement in their lives from someone or the other, right? Well, as appealing and exciting this statement looks for starting this article, it is also contradictory at the same time and for good reasons. The primary reason why education is included is for the overall, inclusive development of a person, which is why many governments focus much on literacy. In fact, the Indian government even started initiatives to educate senior citizens of the rural population.
The additional benefits for a person through education help him to find meaning and have a fuller and livelier life. Life has always been an adventure for humans, and humanity’s latest adventure in technology took him to places that would never exist if it weren’t for his curiosity.
Education has a significant role in the development and advancement of technology. The more humans are moving towards a virtual or a digital world; the more people are realising the primary purpose of education, which is mentioned in the opening paragraph. Over the years, the education sector has evolved significantly, contributing to the then community’s development and growth.
Evolution of the Education Sector
Now, there is a special sector for education; earlier, when humanity started to form and live in a community, the concept of education was far from inception. However, as intelligent as this social animal is, it was not hard to identify the need to educate the younger generation and be trained accordingly to contribute to the growth and survival of the community.
Initially, religious places like churches, temples, and mosques were the knowledge hub for the community. The preachings during those times revolved around the religion that people followed. However, as time passed and people started to migrate or explore different parts of the world, accepting different cultures, customs and norms was quite hard.
Soon, the then woke people raised questions and moved in a different direction, trying to prove their theories and educate the interested. During this long era of moving from the traditional Gurukul system to the religious preachings to the questioning of those preaching, the world witnessed many great educators. Let that be Aryabhatta, Chanakya, The Sophists—Ancient Greek teachers—Galileo Galilei, Nicolas Copernicus, Sir Issac Newton, Plato and the list goes on.
However, one observed in this era was the human expedition to conquer the world. During this time, humanity was constantly at war ever now and then. To stop this, it was needed to restructure the world, and again education proved to be the game-changer here.
The Industrial Revolution and Structuring of the Modern Day Education
As the world entered the initial phases of the industrial revolution, the primary need for education was modified to get a job and not to be a better human being. Catering to this, many prominent universities and institutes of today have had laid their foundation.
As the education sector was still fitting into the framework in the early 20th century, the world witnessed two of the deadliest wars in human history, which affected the whole world somehow. However, when humanity decided to put a full stop to wars, the modified need again came into the picture. During this period of commercialisation, survival was the intent, for which a job was necessary, and the education system was designed beautifully during the industrial revolution that the whole purpose of education weighed heavily towards ‘job’ on the beam balance.
What Goes Around Comes Around!
When the industries were diversified and catered to the lifestyle that defined a generation to remember, did the human quest to view life as an adventure end there? With the technology you are reading this article on, the answer would be no! Humanity went from industry to creating something that would be virtual, and the arrival of technology added a benefit to the caravan that was on a technological venture.
However, as the industries got advanced and technology came into the picture, the job requirements of the industries changed. Since the purpose of education was modified, it all came down to the education sector to close the increasing gap. While the education sector was struggling with the pace, in the background, the upcoming generation started to demand something from the education sector that was something new for these modern educators, which was education outside the structure. This demand catered to and brought back an accurate picture of education came into the system again.
As the demand increased and universities failed to provide an updated, revised education system that could satisfy the growing demand, humans ventured into unknown lands to accomplish their quest. The solution came in Ed-Tech, which recognised this unique need for education and provided the learners with what they needed the most.
Today, Ed-Tech has evolved and become a major industry contributing immensely to the enhancement of the education sector. The influence of Ed-Tech companies was so huge that even the leading universities worldwide started to indulge that into its ecosystem and that’s how the current education system shaped itself to its primary goal, which should have always been to become a better person.
