Mukt Shabd Journal ISSN NO : 2347-3150

Changes in the nature of Indian Education

System with the rise of Social Media
Hitesh Kumar Meena
Centre for Security Studies, School of National Security Studies,
Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

Abstract
Social media is a group of tools based on the internet that enables people to communicate
with their friends or contact without any barriers. People use social media to educate others
regarding new trends and social issues etc.India’s education system is very peculiar and
known for its remarkable features. It gives importance to the development of students'
personalities instead of just giving them knowledge about the system and subject. Over the
period, especially after the hunter commission, it is getting changed. In the 21st century,
when social media came with web 2.0, it completely changed the Indian education pattern.
This paper will be divided into three parts, and it will discuss social media and the education
system separately and the effect of each other. This paper uses the experimental method.

Keywords: - Education, India’s Education System, Social Media, hunter commission

Introduction

Social media is a tool that enables people to connect with others and share their details and
information with them in a virtual world. People don't use social media only to communicate
with others but to get some ideas about their daily life. People on social media take part in
some activities through which they can influence others, like comment and give their own
opinion on other's actions so they will come to know about your views on such things.
Social media is defined as “web-based communication tools that enable people to interact
with each other by both sharing and consuming information”.1
Social media is part of Web 2.0 which allows the people to communicate with others and
they don’t have any connection in the physical world. Social media is used by people for
mainly six purposes, which are 1. Social, 2. Political, 3. Economics 4. Educational, 5.
Entertainment, 6. Educational.
It is different from person to person how they use it and what they want to make it and place
in their lives, but no one can deny that they are not affected by social media in their personal

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lives. As data provided by Investopedia.com showed that 241 billion active users of social
media are available in India, and they use it daily and routinely update their lives. Social
media makes the global village so people can go anywhere and meet anyone through social
media without moving from their physical places.

The origin of social media

Social Media came into existence after the invention of web 2.02, which is also known as the
development of the world wide web. It allows people to share or consume the information as
they want. Social media is the first-time people have come into people's reach with the
creation of SIX DEGREE. The web application is based on the theory of Six Degree of
Separation3. In this theory, Bacon proposes that every single person is different from other
human beings in six categories. It came into existence during 1996 and confines a particular
section of society.
This system was expanded when Mark Zuckerberg built a new social networking site which
became popular among youngsters as Facebook4 in 2004. This site was mainly developed to
rate the girls of Oxford university. Still, later on, due to its high engagement, they expanded
as a communication tool among all the students of Oxford. It changed the social system when
Facebook removed the essential requirement for login on the site: you must have affiliation
from one of the universities notified by Facebook your age must be above 13.
Facebook became the biggest platform in the country with the IT revolution, especially the
Jio network. Jio provides the cheapest data network to the masses, so people start coming on
social media. In this, Facebook remains the significant choice of the people. Now Facebook
has more than 260 billion active users. Google also provides a report that talks about people
mainly; people spend maximum time on YouTube and Facebook. 74% of people easily
believe the content which exists on these social media platforms. More than 80% of users
don’t check the sources, too, as per the annual google report.

Types of social media application

1. Social networks5allow people to engage with others and become friends with known
people.
2. Bookmarking sites6save the link for the future and keep them secure without losing the
information as per choice.
3. Social news7voting online and seeing the news in virtual mode and get the news as soon as
possible along with your comments and views.

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4. Blogs8online forum mainly used for writing the piece of information to educate the others,
and it is used primarily for the educational purpose.
Youths admit they put their story and post but use the hashtag so it can reach a broad
audience so they will get more likes and comments. Still, at the same time, some people use it
to make it easy for those who cannot go to such places and know about them, so they learn
and see the beauty of such sites through social media and enjoy it in a very peaceful manner.
Indian youth, especially college students, always want to explore the places in their way but
show others and get influenced by others to see such sites. Social media education mainly
deals with the sharing of information and content. As people are not aware of whose lecture
or blog they are getting, it also provides the chance to know about the culture of a different
area or person who is teaching them through his conversation or method of explanation.

Indian Education system

The education system9 in ancient times was known as love and affection between students or
gurus. Indian system of education doesn’t have the term teacher because it has been here
since history or Itihas. It is considered that Guru is not for teaching but for making a human
life or social human being. Students worship their gurus like anything, and in return, the guru
also gave them equal importance as their son. Guru and students' relationship can be better
understood from Ramayana and Mahabharata. These are epics of the Hindu religion that talks
about the better society of that time.
There are so many stories in the Hindu religious textbook that talk about the relationship
between guru and student and how they respect each other, and the importance of this
relationship in society. People consider this relation as the purest relation and high status to
guru in their life.
As per 4 ashrams in the Hindu system, one ashram is wholly dedicated to Guru-student
relations. This ashram is known as the Brahmacharya Ashram10. In this stage of human life,
a student is supposed to go and stay in the gurukul (residential school) and perform all the
duties and tasks assigned by his guru, and he serves him without any question. In return,
Guru provides his knowledge, wisdom and builds a human being.

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Types of Teacher

1. Acharya11: - this term used for those who gave the knowledge of behaviour and
character to the students for moving forward in life. Along with that, he comes from a
better family background and knows Vedas. He is not lazy like another ordinary
person in society.

2. Upadhyay12: - A person who teaches Vedas to someone partially or fully. In return get
the money for managing his household activities known as Upadhyay. He takes the
amount according to his education system.

3. Pravakta13: - give lectures from the literature and narrate the story to students and
make sure that they learn those stories for life lessons and keep them remembered as
poems.

4. Guru14: - its broad term includes all those who give the lecture and knowledge in any
form along with that they care for your life and food, health. It denotes the father too
as a guru of his children.

5. Charak15: - a person who does not have a permanent place for teaching the student. He
used to visit from one place to another and keep exploring the land. He keeps his
students along with him in his journey.

All these types of teachers used to be found in India before the Hunter Commission16. It falls
under the category of informal education. The Indian education system provides the highest
status to a guru in life and especially to mothers. Because Indian education system considers
the mother as the first teacher of the child who teaches him walking and speaking. Mothers
also put a seed of behaviour in the human child.
In the Indian education system, a guru is responsible for making human beings and building
character as per society's needs. So, they mainly teach worship, war skills and judgement
skills and essential household activities to sustain life in the forest during hunting time, and
you get away from your group or staff.

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This system has many limitations as it mainly focuses on the royal family members and
future kings. So, it is developed from that point of view. This system didn’t have any space
for the education of the common masses.
When the British came to India, they wanted to change the systems or nature of institutions
prevalent in India. They were doing all these activities under the umbrella of White Man
Burden17. So, they banned so many existing practices and introduced so many things out of
which one of most is the Education system. British introduced the Formal Education system,
which allows everyone to come and get an education without any Caste, Class, Creed,
Religion, Gender, Ethnicity etc.

Formal Education System of India

A formal education system means a fixed format of the education system in which learning
assessment or delivery patterns are already set. It is practised in the same way across the
State. It is divided into phases or stages, which are decided as to how educated or
knowledgeable a person is in the community.

· Primary Education18It includes two standard Primary schools (1-5) or Middle schools (6-
8). It is free for all under the scheme of the Right to Education (under Article 21 of the
Constitution of India). It starts mainly at the age of 6 and gets completed by the age of 14
children. It comes under the universal right of human beings to get primary education. It is
known for reading, writing, or speaking the language. Basic understanding of maths and
science too.
· Secondary Education19comprises only the 9th and 10th standards in which 10th standard
is known as the Secondary board exam. Here a person gets promoted based on his
performance in the exam except for some emergency when the government decides not to
hold the exam. Till this stage, children learn all the significant aspects of the subject and can
sustain a basic life to move in their career. After it, the Senior Secondary Stage gets started,
known for choosing or selecting the subject for career-making. Here people are so conscious
that they create too much pressure on their children during the exam of the Secondary Board.
As in the 11th standard students or parents cannot get the subject of their choices as schools
offer the stream on the basis of the score of children in their Secondary board. Senior
secondary also comprises two classes only (11th and 12th).

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· Vocational Education20young minds who don’t want to pursue higher education opt for
Vocational Education and training. It has two entry levels, one is just after the 10th exam, and
another is the 12th exam. People through it get entry in all the major job sectors or skill-based
industries.

· Higher Education or Tertiary Education21this stage is highly complicated as it includes

so many types of degrees. Academics. Professional or training module etc. It can be divided
into three stages (1. Undergraduate, 2. Graduate or Masters, 3. Research). UG is where a
person goes either through a competition exam or percentage basis. This degree consists of 3
or 4 years based on degree nature. Academic is 3 years whereas professional degree is 4
years. 2. Masters is optional and based on the choice of student who wants to pursue his
career in the research or teaching career. 3. Research is known for PhD, and it is considered
the highest degree of the education system.
New Education Policy 2020 brings many changes to this education system as it allows
students for multiple entries or exits. According to numerous entries or exit, students will get
the certificate, diploma, degree. In the NEP, vocational Education is combined with the
standard education system. It also focused on giving education in the mother tongue of the
child. It also removes the universal nature of a particular degree as a student can opt based on
choice and school or university plan as per their standards which may bring stratification
among students.

Effect of Social media on the Education system

The most considerable effect of social media is that it removes the concept of teacher and
guru in general. It provides global outreach so students and teachers can choose or select their
counterparts without any further problems. Every coin has two sides; the same applies to
Social Media. On the positive side, social media allows students to get an education most
simply through video animation or text. Students can access content or data in bulk. Now
they can get anything on the tips. But here, problems come as huge content or data is there,
but who will verify that it is authentic or fake as social media becomes the most significant
source of misinformation, disinformation or fake news. In the covid time, social media helps
the students to continue their education without any barrier even after nationwide lockdown.

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1. Fake News: - Social media is a public platform where anyone can update or throw the
information as they want to circulate. So, so many groups of people work to create tensions
and bring a gap among the society by spreading some fake news that doesn’t have any place
in the real world. Before it gets noticed or stopped, they make huge losses or damage to
society regarding cultural harmony or financial or social breakdown. Some wrong elements
use it to create an untrusty Environment among people regarding the education systems or
practice.

2. Mis-information: - when people wrote a blog or created a video, they missed some element
or part of that thing. So, people confuse the mind and compel them to think some unrealistic
thing or start believing that it has been done in this particular context.

3. Dis-information: - when a tutor does all such acts like dropping some information or
changing the way of presenting the news, it creates tensions or issues in the society. People
start reacting to that without much thinking and are ready to take action on behalf of available
information for their interests and pathways. Social media is the house of the people who do
all such things to the system.

4. Mal-information: - when you have the information or content about someone’s personal
life which doesn’t have any connection with the system, or you are doing it for personal gain
or loss for your counterpart. It is done deliberately to get some higher status or advantage in
the system.

5. Universal access: - social media brings the school or education centre to your hand through
mobile. Now you can learn things according to your interest and time availability. It is true
social media again bringing the informal way of learning too. You can know or get an
education from any part of the globe without moving from your physical place.

6. Free access: - social media provides education in paid or free versions too. So, it is based
on the choices or needs of the person how he wants to get an education. Social media is
readily available to get access to minimal charges, so through it, education can be accessed
by anyone free of cost.

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7. Engaging method: - In social media, everyone is behind the screen and doesn't have any
shyness to come into discourse with faculty and other participants. People are becoming more
engaged in the learning process, whereas only faculty deliver the formal method.

Conclusion

Social media has become a significant aspect of daily life with the universal expansion of the
internet. Now anyone can get the resource or content of their choices or interest without any
barrier or excessive document process. Social media became an effective tool of education
during the Covid-19 lockdown. It allows people to continue learning or make them more and
more curious to get knowledge or information. During the lockdown, so many educational
institutions come off Social media networks like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or others.
They uploaded videos of lectures on these platforms so anyone can learn about them. But it
also has some problems, like here we cannot check the authenticity and resources. Social
media is a hyperreality that doesn’t always have a connection, but it impacts the real world or
society. Social media changes the nature of the education system across the globe, especially
the Indian scenario. As India is struggling with covid, so they are keeping their education
through social media.

1
Nations Daniel. “What is social media? Explaining the Big trend.” “Lifewire”. 26 Jan 2021
2
Housh L. William. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Web-20 . “Britannica”. 7 June 2007
3
KarinthyFrigyas. “Chains”. “Everything is different”. (1929)
4
Kirkpatrick David. “The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World”.
(2010). Simon and Schuster Publisher
5
Malhotra Deepak. “Social Media and The Armed Forces”. (2016). Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, New
Delhi.
6
Ibid
7
Ibid
8
Ibid
9
Schriewer, J. and Novava, A. “History of Education”. “International Encyclopaediaof The Social
&Behavioural Sciences”. (2001). Elsevier Science Ltd
10
https://iskconeducationalservices.org/HoH/practice/dharma/the-four-ashrams/
11
Jacobs Stephan. “Hinduism Today.” (2010). Continuum International Publishing Group
12
Ibid
13
Ibid
14
Ibid

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15
Ibid
16
Indian Education Commission 1882 Report
17
Kipling Rudyard. “White Man Burden”. (1899). http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_burden.htm
18
Ghoush C. Suresh. “History of Education in India.” (2007). Rawat Publication
19
Ibid
20
Ibid
21
Ibid

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