Sir — This refers to the article, “Physical labour is no longer dignified” (May 16) Meeta W Sengupta.
The writer opines that “there have been periods in Indian education history when vocational education was a part of the curriculum, but that was seen as unsuccessful.” It depends on what the writer considers to be ‘Indian education history’. Did it begin with Macaulay and the missionary-colonials, or did it precede themIJ If it is the latter, she might find Gandhian thinker, historian and political philosopher Dharampal’s The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century, informative and insightful.
The book provides evidence from extensive reports of early British administrators detailing the widespread prevalence of educational institutions in the Bengal and Madras Presidencies as well as in Punjab. The institutions had a comprehensive curriculum, with an impressive daily attendance of students. In some places, students from even the minority community formed a good part of the attendance.