प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

II] SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES 23
practically non-existent; the educational system therefore
took particular care to train and develop memory in order
to ensure that what students had learnt during their
college days should stand them in good stead throughout
their life. Personal attention to each student was insisted
upon to ensure a high degree of proficiency. In pro-
fessional education the necessity of practical training was
emphasised for the same reason.
Education for all: Since education was regarded
as the best agency for improving society, it was naturally
insisted that it should be available to all those who were
qualified to receive it. It was not regarded, as was the
case in Ancient Greece, as the priviledge of those
lucky few who had the necessary leisure to devote to its
acquisition. To ensure literary education to the largest
possible number, Upanayana ritual, which marked the
beginning of religious and literary education, was made
obligatory for all the Aryans, both males and females. It
was further declared that a man can discharge his debt
to ancestors not merely by procreating sons but by pro-
viding for their proper education.¹ Every Aryan, i. e.
every Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya, thus received
at least the rudiments of literary and religious education.
Things however changed for the worse during the first
millennium of the Christian era, when Kshatriyas and
Vaishyas gradually ceased to perform Upanayana and
sank to the level of the Shudras. This gave a great set-
back to their literary education. As far as the professional
education was concerned, it was ensured to almost all
persons anxious to receive it, when the caste system became
hereditary; every family was expected to train its children
and bring them up in the traditions of its profession.
¹ तस्मात्पुत्रमनुशिष्टं लोक्यमाहुस्तस्मादेनमनुशास्ति । B. Up., 1.5.7.