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

26 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
Education to begin at Proper Time: Ancient Indians
were convinced that no good results would follow if
education is begun late, in life. A boy who begins his
education at 16 is not likely to bring any credit to his
teachers¹. During our childhood, mind is pliable, memory
keen and intellect receptive; it is only at this period of
life, that it is possible to form good habits that may be
of life-long use to us. Ancient Indians have therefore
insisted that education ought to commence in childhood.
One thinker observes that parents themselves would
become the greatest enemies of a child, whose education
has been neglected during the childhood². It was held
that the 5th year and the 8th year would be the proper
time for the beginning of the primary and the secondary
education respectively. Our educationalists had however
recognised that it would be necessary to vary these years
in accordance with the cultural traditions of the family.³
Studies not to stop with the Course: Even in
modern times, when books are cheap and library facilities
fairly good, students forget a good deal of what they
learn within a few years after leaving the school or the
college. The danger was much greater in ancient times
when books were rare, costly and fragile. Our educa-
tionalists therefore emphasise that every graduate should
recapitulate daily a portion of what he had learnt in the
school or the college. At the time of his convocation,
the chancellor particularly exhorted him not to neglect
his duty of daily revision⁴. To forget what had once
been learnt was pronounced to be a sin as grave as the
¹ नातिषोडशवर्षमुपनयीत प्रसृष्टवृषणो ह्येष वृषलीभूतो भवति ॥ J.Gr.S.,I.12
² माता शत्रुः पिता वैरी बालों येन न पाठितः । Subhāshita.
³ See Appendix I, sections A and B.
⁴ स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । T.U ., I.