I

Institutionalized Education
In this paper I will theorize some basic principles on which institutionalized education should be
developed in order to understand the world around us in better way. For this purpose I will dwell
into medieval South Asian viewpoint towards learning and ideas of knowledge. I intend to focus
upon principles which were developed in the period of orderly, systematic, logically developed sets
of aphoristic, extremely brief and sometimes enigmatic texts around and after 200AD
(Radhakrishnan 2014).
In the modern world i.e. in the world of globalization and crony capitalism it becomes fundamental
to revisit history and look at the development of the various viewpoints advanced all over the world
to incorporate them into the institutionalized structures for the sustenance of the human race.
Though south Asian perspective is not even considered to be philosophy in western definition of it,
but there are some underlying principles on which they have survived for the longest in the known
human history. Here I want to clarify that I do not intend to extol the South Asian educational
system at all costs, as it were and adopt an outright hostile attitude towards the west. My whole
purpose is to incorporate some principles which do not have enough importance in institutionalized
education, which alienates one from the natural processes of knowing and exploring, inquiring
various elements of the world, which on the other hand pushes them into some mechanical,
monotonous life form resulting into the discriminating attitude towards the imposed categories of
age, gender, class, race, caste or religion on human race. One of my deepest concerns is that while
education systems around the world are being reformed, many of these reforms are being driven by
political and commercial interests that misunderstand how real people learn and how great schools
actually work (Robinson 2016). This inhumane attitude towards the countless people who engage
into the formal educational process damages the possible future growth.
Why Institutionalized Education?
First we will look into the historical basis of institutionalized education and necessity for the same.
In the south Asian context of understanding education system, it becomes fundamental to
understand the procedural or metaphysical understanding of the specific actions that they engaged
into the medieval India, where they started commenting and challenging the Vedic texts. They
coined their own terms to look at the historical social developments to make some concrete
meaning out of the actions that they engaged into. As we see today the word dvija is never used into
the vedic texts but are referred to those who undergo upa-nayana saṃskār in Dharmasastras text of
mid to late first millennium CE texts (Olivelle 2012). Some key words like Jñāna, pramā, dvija
allows us to theorize whole structural meaning around the institution of education and what is the
role that one can really play in the process of learning or understanding the processes of
constructing better society. In the journey of learning new things and creating new knowledge,
structuring the education system in the modern world, it is fundamentally important to encourage
the process, to question those very ideas of true knowledge and check for the pramāṇa (empirical
evidence) to certify some beliefs to be true. At the same time, it is necessary to realize limitations to

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understand the world in the true sense on the larger time scale. The real education is about
developing the capacity to locate our particular existence in the collective society, which enables
one to sustain in this world more effectively.
The word dvija, is further split between two elements dvi(two) + ja(born). Which simply means the
one who is born twice. In the textual context we see that this word is used to refer to the birds and
more importantly a man of any one of the first three classes which are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and
Vaishyas. It is premised on the concept of rebirth, where one is re-born through investiture with the
sacred thread (upa-nayana). After the upa-nayana saṃskār the one was sent to the school for Vedic
studies (Mittal 2004). I will not get into the complex social structures of Vedic societies and gender
biases or class or caste of the person based on the patriarchal understanding of being, when I look
into the idea of education. In the modern world we realize that everyone should get equal
opportunity for basic education and everyone should be treated on the principle of equality without
any discrimination irrespective of their gender, caste or any other category.
According to me this word dvija is more of a metaphor used for a person who is exposed to the
external world from the secure protection of the cocoon. The very word dvija basically means
oviparous (egg-laying) bird. The bird is born first time when birds lay a fertilized egg. This very act
of fertilization of egg is somewhat related to human beings when women gets pregnant. But in case
of being process is little different where egg is conceived inside the womb itself and not outside.
When the egg is laid by bird, the existence of the bird is already there residing in the eggshell. Same
way the growth of human embryo takes place inside the womb of the mother. In case of the birds,
eggshell acts as a protecting cover to protect the embryo. In the incubation period multiple and
various factors are vital for the growth of the embryo. This is the period when embryo is nourished
extensively so that baby bird breaks that shell by itself and come into the world, this very second
birth is referred when birds are called dvija.
The bird gets completely independent once they are fully grown and fly away from the home. This
very idea of complete independence and relating to the world outside is incorporated when the word
dvija is used for human beings ,who undergo investiture with the sacred thread. Here it is not to be
misunderstood that human beings are complete when upa-nayan saṃskār takes place but the
process of becoming complete, starts from that very moment. The protective cover of egg is
compared to the protective shield developed by the family to protect their baby child till age of 8 to
12 (Mookerji 1989) where their physical development is ensured and cared at home. So this
protective cocoon is not some physical shield actually protecting the human kids in the years of
their development but it is more of the constructed protection by the human community. This idea
of community and protection is further developed and studied through the formal education in
Guru-kula.
Basically this act of entering into the world outside the protective environment and learn based
upon real world situations and knowledge is what pronounced as the second birth for the human
beings. That is why this word dvija is used metaphorically in case of human beings as well. In the
Guru-kula-s they are supposed to learn all those ways in which world can be interpreted and

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understood to develop human society. For the vedic societies knowledge is something prime to the
human existence where they are supposed to learn veda-s which means “the knowledge” from the
Sanskrit root vid means ‘to know’. The point that I am trying to make here is not that veda-s have
all the knowledge and everything is already discovered in the religious scriptures but want highlight
the desire ‘to know’ something is prime to the human existence which gets developed over period of
time. This is the reason history is shaped within the framework of knowledge with ownership as
well control over the distribution knowledge. In the twenty first century we can see the same kind of
phenomenon working in place through patents, trademarks, censorship or even the copy rights
where state plays role in regulating these laws.
What is knowledge?
In Indian epistemology of the knowledge there are two specific words when they mean knowledge
(Biswas 2006). Jñāna and pramā is something very peculiar to what we understand of knowledge
as of today. The term pramā is derived from the root ‘mā’ which means to create or to estimate, and
‘pra’ denotes to start, combined means true knowledge. But in its essence it talks about the process
to start estimating the nature of objects or create knowledge based upon pramāna which is the chief
instrument of knowing the source of valid knowledge. Jñāna is all kinds of knowledge which can
be true or false. But when reality reveals true knowledge it is called pramā and if knowledge is false
then it is called apramā. So due to the unavailability of the tools for conforming the believes, the
jñeytā (possibility of knowing) is questioned. But not directly declared as non-sense or idiotic belief
but it is an epistemic humility and acknowledging the limits of what human beings can possibly
know.
The whole purpose of institutional education is to initiate the process of finding some answers to
existing questions and know the methods by which something can be known. In the formal
education systems it is supposed to deliver all those tools which are required to undermine meaning
making processes which are instantaneous to human capacity, building up some association with all
those object around us. Educational institutes are purported to introduce certain level of rationality
based upon some fundamental principles which are developed over period of time. Education
should be the process where some basic knowledge is delivered, which is developed historically as
well as culturally to expand the gazes on those aspects of life which are hidden and misunderstood
in the social consciousness due to stereotypical hegemonic structures of the society. But ironically
educational institutions are used by those in the power to propagate their ideology which is
designed to brain wash those individuals to use them as mere puppets. Ideally formal education
should allow individual to think independently and analyze contemporary paradigm with contextual
understanding to sustain the human race. It is more about learning to be aware of self and others’
assumptions and be critical towards them for better change. When I am discussing the formal
education or institutionalized education; it is not about particular age group or particular
specialization but overall principles on which the process of becoming better human species is
shaped. In the contemporary world, quality of institutionalized education is degraded to the extent
where the process of becoming human is slowed down of the individual (Robinson 2001). When I

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talk about the process of becoming human, I presuppose that the role of education is to facilitate the
learning and one needs to undergo some basic training of processing stream of data to comprehend
the world more effectively. The more one gets into the process of learning, they can relate to the
world outside more effectively to actually take a step ahead to shape their own institutions in new
ways according to the modern-day requirements.
Necessity of Building up Vocabulary
In the world of science and technology when we are focusing upon the objectivity, and nature of
reality through empirical framework; it is equally important to realize and acknowledge that we
need to have different frames of references introducing some sort of subjectivity towards our
understanding and need to redefine all those problems with all different positions to solve them in
most efficient way. To have different stand points to look at the same problem it becomes
indispensable to at least have some vocabulary to know what others have to say about the same
thing. Here I would like to focus on requirement of having large amount of vocabulary in order to
understand world around us in better way.
• Nature of Reality

The world around us is constituted with various real substances with some qualities. These qualities
are either inherent within these substances or perceived through subjective experience of the object.
When we make differentiation between subjective experience of the object (svaprakāśatā) or self-
aware nature of knowledge and inheritance of properties that are attached on to the material objects
(Timalsina 2008), we are taking into consideration the precise nature of knowledge (jñāna) as
something what Nyāya-vaiśeṣika thought of world to be. According to them whatever that is
knowable is nameable (RW Perrett 1999). The way they locate the importance of the words in
understanding world is what makes it easier for us, to recognize the significant importance given to
the fact that individual should have maximum vocabulary in order to be identified as someone
knowledgeable or in more general terms to be more intelligent in modern world when we think of
competitive examinations. These examinations include vocabulary to be important factor to judge
his or her capacities to comprehend well in particular language.
Just knowing the basic grammar or the way language is constructed is not sufficient for individual
to use language effectively and we need to know some basic words that are used to construct a
simple sentence. This is one way of looking at the importance of vocabulary based upon a ‘usage of
the language’. But what is fundamental nature of words 1 and how do they make it possible for us to
communicate is something which is highlighted by Nyāya-vaiśeṣika school of Indian philosophy
where they talk about padārtha. The word padārtha itself mean that ‘the word that has some
meaning’. (It appears quite funny when we try think of importance of words through usage of
words). When they speak about padārtha it is the real objects and elements that they refer to in the
world around us. They divide world into particular categories. The metaphysical structure of reality

1 Words have some meaning attached to it. Without any meaning words do not exist.

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in this school makes it simpler to attribute meaning to the words and achieve the relationship
between words and these element of the world.
The primary category is said to be dravya (substance), where these substances are supposed to pre-
exist to have some properties attached to them and define its actual nature. So it cannot be ‘I think
therefore I am’ as Descartes famously says it. On the contrary, according to realist perspective: body
pre-exists within that which we think. So the existence of body is priory to the act of thinking. The
peculiarity of this specific category is that these substances are further divided into material and
non-material substances where subject of experience of object is also included to be one of the
substance which is non-material: ātman (soul) and manas (mind) which is associated with a
material body. So substance is something which possesses guṇa (quality) and karman (motion or
action) (King 1999). Substance is something that cannot exist without these two categories which
are indivisible from substance. These three categories2 combine together to form a larger category
of sattā (existent) as a declaration of something that is real.
• Nature of Words

When we think of the words in parallel to the understanding of this metaphysical structure of
reality, then words are those symbols which hint at some relation to the substance (dravya) which
has some meaning which is related to the quality of the substance (guṇa) and are used with the help
of some artificial rules constructed in some definite framework to make some sense out of the series
of words. The meaning which is constructed out of the words is nothing but the essence of the
substance or bhāva of the substance. When we think of these categories in relation with the words
in the way which they are used, the importance given to the vocabulary starts to unfold.
• Apohavāda

To explain that words don’t build the direct relationship to the substance but with everything else
than that specific substance on the principle of negation, Dignāga proposed the doctrine of
exclusion (apohavāda)3 to further rebuff Nyāya-vaiśeṣika-s acceptance of the reality of universals
(samānya) (King 1999). He proposed principle of negation or exclusion. According to him
universals or class-names are constructed negatively which allows functioning in broader network
of signifiers (Arnold 2006). For example, when we call some substance as dog, we develop the
understanding which essentially imply that everything else than this object is ‘not dog’. This leaves
with no other option, than to relate that substance with word dog, which even imply that this
substance is not horse, not cow, not pencil, not human etc. When we take this precise usage of
language as exclusion it becomes evident to actually identify one substance different from every
other substance. To understand nature of substance completely with its inherent qualities and
essence there are two ways to actually locate that substance different from everything else.
To understand this more clearly we will stick to the example of dog, having the quality of ‘barking’.
To know that dog barks and derive this conclusion to be true, there are two ways in which we can
2 substance (dravya), quality (guṇa), action or motion (karman)
3 It is the theory of language and its usage.

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solve this problem. First we will have to see and experience each and every dog that is present on
earth to propose that dog barks. By this we can claim that dog barks unless and until we encounter
with some dog which does not bark 4. Practically to claim this relation between dogs and act of
barking by pratyakṣa pramāṇa (direct perception) is impossible where pramā (object of
knowledge) is ability of dog to bark. So there is second way to deal with this practical difficulty is
to experience every dog barking (pratyakṣa pramāṇa) is to ‘infer’ (anumāna) that dog barks. Here,
the idea of exclusion with support of universals comes into play. To infer that dog barks, we will
have to know all other possibilities of substances and relationships within those substances, to
actually say that dogs do not mew as cats’ mew, dogs do not growl because bears do it or even the
fact that dogs do not croak as frogs do it etc. The possibility to infer something strongly with some
level of certainty is based upon principle of exclusion. This is only possible when we know what are
the other possibilities; than the claim of stating something obvious.
In this same example to claim that some animal is dog, we will have to know what are the other
animals, to say it is not any of those animal. To state it is an animal, we will have to know what are
the all living things, that are not animals. To state something is living, we will have to know, what
are all non- living things, that are not living and so on. So this list of substances can go on towards
infinity, unless and until all the substances in the world are not named with particular word, to make
a substantial claim that dogs are not humans.
From above examples and explanations, it is clear to realize why it is significantly important to
expand vocabulary and learn new words all the times. These words are not only some random
symbols to signify one quality or property of the substance, but even signify the relationship
between as many qualities as possible to one particular substance or object. It is essential to
understand meaning of the word precisely to identify exact relation between word and its meaning
to the substance, because without such careful understanding of the word there is possibility of
stating something, which is not real or false due to possibility of the same statement to be true in
different context. For example, if one says dogs do not talk when they bark, then there is problem
with the statement and ambiguity in the statement as to say dogs might be talking between
themselves that humans cannot comprehend or communicate back through mode of barking. But
this does not conclude that dogs cannot talk, because act of talking implies making some sounds or
actions to communicate with others who can understand those sounds or actions 5. It is as similar as
if some French speaking person says that Japanese speaking person cannot talk or communicate
because he does not understand what they are trying to say. But when we have precise
understanding of words and what does they exactly mean, when we use it in the particular context,
it becomes feasible to relate to the words outside us and interact with all those elements in the world
which has some meaning attached to it.
So according to Nyāya-vaiśeṣika-s when they structure the metaphysical categories of reality, they
imply that, when something is knowable it is nameable. Which even imply having large sets of
4 We can even conclude that this specific dog is sick or there is some problem with his vocal chords. But here
we are talking specifically about non-barking dog who does not possess quality of barking.
5 Those(humans) who cannot speak use sign language which doesn’t not include any sound in communication

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vocabulary enables us not only to understand world clearly but perceive it differently. Remembering
more numbers of words is not only some mechanical act to test our capacity to rote learn something
but in a way it helps us to re-define world and increases the likelihood that we will look into all
possible relation between various elements (sattā) into the world. It might even help us to come out
of stereotypes and miss-beliefs which were imposed onto us by social hegemony while we grow up
learning many things in our childhood developing ways in which we interact with our surroundings.
It becomes important not only to re-relate existing knowledge but even learn something new
through learning just series of words with precise meaning and ways in which those words can be
used, to redefine humanity and human understanding of the world. The more we cognize (jñāna 6)
about what is happening around us and the world we are living into it becomes little easier to locate
ourselves and our existence within these structures of universe. Consequently, it drives one to
realize internal self and construct some understanding about his or her identity. In today’s world
where we have created so many complexities while developing some understanding about it, it
becomes essential to step back and reconstruct these understandings by developing new relations of
transactions within world in all possible ways, by knowing more and developing more knowledge
to stabilize the mis-balanced world.
Recall to learn efficiently
Building up vocabulary is not just about the rote learning but how efficiently we are wired to
associate different words with each other resulting into the more structured understanding about all
the elements in the world with each other which makes us to derive some meaning out of those
relationships. Learning is more efficient when we recall all those associations made within
(Mandler 1967). This recall allows us to focus on all those small aspects of the world which
symbolizes one specific relationship withing two elements which characterizes the nature of the
substances. Since every person has their own mental episodes which comprises all the information
and perception about the world with subjective experience of the world, it becomes quite difficult to
initiate the conversation between the discourse of knowledge and perception which will be
intelligible in some sense. Bhartṛhari, the fifth-century grammarian-philosopher of India,
propounded the thesis that verbalizability (or even verbal activity at an implicit level) is immanent
in our cognitive faculty (Matilal 1986). It is further claimed that our cognition is dependent on the
verbal faculty. This thesis clearly implies that supposedly private experience of the individual which
is subjective in nature is as same as occurrence of the verbal thought. So if the thought is expressed
in the words, in some language then it breaks free the subjectivity and is open for inter-subjectivity.
• Memory

If we presuppose that everything that is perceived is nameable in some sense, then it becomes
fundamental to focus onto the relearning all those same words from the memory, which might allow
one to generate different meanings, as well associations with that same word in order to strengthen
the connections to recall more effortlessly. The more we try to recall something from the memory
one gets into the creative processes to actually make some associations within those various ideas as
6 The term, as used in Nyāya, is cognition that corresponds to the externals

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well as concepts learned over period of time. Basically cognitive events are expressed into the
linguistic structure which are different in the meaning than that specific event. To derive exact
meaning from the cognition it becomes fundamental to attribute every element of that cognition
within some precise framework of language. In process of choosing right word for right emotion,
thought or episode it helps one to comprehend those minute details of the cognitive episode which
otherwise would be missed. These attribution of words to the reality invokes all sorts of images,
sounds, or emotions where all sorts of memory techniques comes into play. These vivid, colorful
images allows one to use sensory information to process with some known attributes of the same
substance.
Conclusion
When we think about education as process of being human then we have remind ourselves what is
the known nature of human beings. Human beings are highly curious learning organisms (Robinson
2016). From their birth they are trying to explore and know about all the things around them, that in
initial stages of their life they do not even realize what is fatal for them. They tend to get into
subjective experiencing mode to learn from their experience. That is the reason in initial stages they
are developed in some protective shell or cocoon as discussed earlier where some survival skills are
learned. The basic idea behind the formal education is to learn all those aspects of the world which
helps one to know what is harmful for one’s existence and develop skills to overcome fear to have
reverence for existence. But whole structure of formal education is developed around the idea of
fear itself. Kids are afraid to go to the school, afraid to face examination, complete the homework
because they are scared of the punishment, in higher studies they are afraid to come last in the class,
afraid of being judged for their capacities to succeed, in colleges and universities afraid that they
will be unemployed, afraid to get rejected by society.
The whole structure of formal education gives false sense of eruditeness and people are learning
something on basis of illusion that they will be advanced to further grade, that is to say in the first
standard person studies so that she will be advanced to the second standard and ninth standard
student learns so that she will be pushed to the tenth standard. Everyone is persuaded for
furtherance in some higher standard and get paid one day so that they will be able to earn their
bread and butter.
Though getting independent and surviving in this world is important, the role of education is to
stimulate the process of learning based on some basic principles of knowledge (like building up
vocabulary, remembering things from memory, different methods to enhance learnings and most
importantly the reason of doing all these things). It becomes necessary to know the things that have
known till the current paradigm to take those sets of believes further to change and develop around
those principles which are discovered already. But on the other hand in the modern world some sort
of illusionary competition makes one to think that whatever one is learning is just to go into further
class and score good marks to come first into the class. As a result of this mentality, imposed in
early childhood, the process of learning something new that changes one's beliefs is held back to an
extent. The more one gets into the formal education system to engage with ideas, the more s/he

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becomes rigid about their held beliefs, which now have an academic justification. This leads to an
arrogance, and a dominant imposition of one's ideas on others, without regard for explaining how
these ideas came to be held. On the other hand some just engage into education till the point
someone is ready to pay them enough or according to the requirements of the individual to make a
living out of it. Once people engage into the job market they tend to stop thinking about learning as
something fundamental to their existence. They no longer have those illusionary reference points of
success and certification from some institution to label them as the learned one.
The current process of formal education in some ways handicaps individual to learn anything new
in future. People tend to believe that their beliefs are ultimate. The conventional schools have
become the place where individuals are fed with some stream of information which they have no
clue about or how to actually use it. Where as Learning is the process, where group of people come-
together to learn with each other, from each other. It is more of the sharing their emotions, skills,
and the things that they know, resulting into the collective sense of being. It is the most humane act
one can engage into, than just forcing them to rote learn some things for the sake of doing it.
Education can be designed interestingly enough that one will be driven into the process of learning,
once they realize the necessity for the same. We can at the most shape the process of learning,
locating the individuality of every person through some experimental pedagogy which is developed
empirically over period of time, to facilitate the self learning processes within the individuals.
When we discuss the structure of formal institutionalized education, it is most fundamental thing to
realize and accept that even the teaching is also the skill that is developed and learned over period
of time. This whole process of education, learning, training, pedagogy is all about the locating our
existence in this world deriving some meaning out of it.

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Words: 5,146

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