Pedagogical Insights from Ancient Indian Gurukul System for 21st-Century Learning

Abstract

The advent of COVID-19 has brought in an entire alternate reality, unimaginable till the WHO made an official announcement in January 2020, followed by the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic. This black swan event occurred just when it was perceived that AI would take over elementary teaching and the educational system of the trained facilitation would replace the traditional system. The Indian education system, a colonially inherited time-tested stable system, was completely derailed with the declaration of a nationwide lockdown in March 2020. Within days, the education policymakers and educationists responded by introducing virtual schools and classes to create an impression of 'no loss'. The adulatory reactions reached such a crescendo that in most large-scale surveys conducted by both public and private entities, almost all the parents perceived that their children were learning the same as in the traditional classroom (K. Krishnapriya & Rani, 2022). An assessment of the responses reveals some glaring inconsistencies and gross inadequacies that require immediate attention. It is impossible for multicultural India to follow the digital-centric Western education model.