Analysing Education in India: Multiculturalism and Cosmopolitanism

This essay delves into the complexities of the Indian education system, analyzing the influence of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. It explores how these concepts shape educational policies, practices, and outcomes across different regions and levels of education, from primary to postgraduate. The essay highlights key tenets of multiculturalism, such as postcolonialism and the role of society and identity, and contrasts them with the tenets of cosmopolitanism, particularly in the context of globalization and its impact on education. It examines the structure of the education system, including the formal, informal, and religious aspects, and provides examples of how diverse cultural contexts influence educational approaches and policies within different states of India. Furthermore, the essay discusses the integration of technology and e-learning in the Indian education sector and its potential for growth and reformation, emphasizing the role of both individualistic and collective perspectives. The essay concludes by emphasizing India's growing reputation as a global educational destination, with a strong emphasis on robust foundations and the adoption of technology in the learning process.

Analysing the context of education including the social and cultural diversity in India
This is mainly in relation to determine the aspect of educational system in India with
relation to two of its major concepts of multiculturism and cosmopolitan societies. It is thereby
important to highlight some preceding measures of comprehending the actual dimensions of both
these terms (Deshpande, 2015). With a similar context to it, multiculturism is a wider concept
that refers to a diversified culture of individuals in which the individuals hereby belongs to two
or more distinct cultural groups and societies. As a result to which, these individuals also tends to
reflect different set of beliefs and assumptions that clearly address their assorted societal values.
Such diversified culture however makes a direct impact on the regimental policies of different
nations that subsequently reflects a formal acknowledgement of such distinctive dimensions
(Olwig and Valentin, 2015). Likewise, the concept of multiculturalism equivalently influences
the education system of India. This is for instance to outline distinguished measures of education
in different regions of India. India is composed of total 29 different states and 7 union territories
where each region has their eminent set of opinions that further depicts their active state of living
and other affiliated means of leading their lifestyle.
Multiculturism is composed of some key tenets which further reflects its real concept.
Postcolonialism is a foremost part of it where it challenges the diversified measures of different
cultural dimensions where it occurs in variety of forms. For illustration, one can define a similar
context of Gandhi, where he consolidated Indian nationalism with a non violent approach to
terminate the rules of Britishers in India (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin, 2013). In contrast to
which, another political leader named Franz Fanon applied a violent approach to overthrow the
French regulation from Caribbean. It therefore depends on the implied tact of people in
showcasing their active thoughts about another regional prospect. The education system of India
is equivalently stuck by such political measures of multiculturism where identity is referred to be
yet another leading consideration of the regimental systems.
This is mainly in context to depict a different recognition to distinct set of individuals
who belongs from assorted cultures. Society plays a vital role in this peculiar part of
multiculturism that largely emphasised upon the ethnicity of individuals (Agarwal, 2009). It is
also affiliated with another major conception of different regional sets where on relating it with
the educational system of India, all schools and colleges of India in their antithetical regions
operates with contrary policies and rules. This is in relation to determine all considerate levels of

education in India that is further divided into multiple sets. The structure of eduction system has
six phases which starts with the kinder garden when the individual is at the age of 3-4 years and
ends up at the stage of post graduation where the person is at the age of 23-24 years (Gilbertson,
2016). The whole structure of education has been explained as per their levels and grades
awarded to the person clearing every phase.
Primary education is a compulsory phase for every Indian resident in order to gain proper
knowledge and understanding about the basic cognition and related values (Hill and Chalaux,
2011). Other than this, doctoral education is among the top most stage of attaining higher form of
qualification. However, another subsequent part of multiculturism is defined by a relative term of
cosmopolitan that is considered as a vital type of multiculturism. Such type of multiculturism
tends to support the varied set of cultures in India along with their identity politics. It together
emphasis upon exchanging the cultural prospects of one another where one can acquire some
precise base of learning from one other's distinct set of cultures (Viswanathan, 2014). It is thence
assumed to depict a collaborative approach of mix culture where India entirely consists of hybrid
society with people resides from different continents.
This deploy distinct societal notion in almost all of its dispersed arena that has directly
affected their educational system to a larger extent (Pinar, 2015). Besides this, cosmopolitan
multiculturism is largely influenced by the contemporary facets of globalisation that has
significantly raised the living condition of people by together upgrading the education system of
India to a greater extent. Such emerging awareness of getting better and higher education have
made a gradual enhancement with an amended percentage of literacy rate in Indian citizen where
they are also providing high level of education to the people coming from different countries. It
is however a resultant outcome of increasing number of migrants that is largely supported by
contemporary changes at a global level (Torres, 2015). Indian education have hereby depicted a
multi-sectoral context where it is also affected by these leading facts of migration and worldwide
occurrences with continual modifications.
Being an interrelated concept of globalisation, it made some substantial changes in the
existent system of education in India with some modernised technical concepts for educating the
students in a better manner (Reyhner and Eder, 2015). This has also led to differentiate the
cultural orientation of education in India with two leading approaches of individualistic and
allied set of perspectives. Into which, the individualistic perspective has made independent

scholars who are actively engaged in critical argumentation. However, another set of collective
perspective is composed of dependent students who need constant assistance of their peers with
more efficient power of grasping the learning contents. India is therefore practising both the
concepts of multiculturism and cosmopolitan where the educational institutes in different regions
are bound to adapt the legal implications of their respective governmental bodies (Sriprakash,
2010). This is for instance to illustrate some real examples of India, where the scholars in one of
its state named Rajasthan follows a distinct educational system as compared to another state
named West Bengal.
With an analogous context to it, Rajasthan government have hereby made it compulsory
to teach their local language in their respective schools and colleges. Similarly, the West Bengal
government have also made it compulsory for their active educational institutes to teach their
regional language to the learners who are studying over there (Velaskar, 2010). Beside this, they
are also bound to set an accordant format of their uniforms where most of the institutes in West
Bengal have obligated their scholars to wear different attire as compared to the educational
institutes of Rajasthan. The educational system of India is thence divided into three precise
sections that include formal, informal and religious education. All these sections and factors
comprises with different styles in regard to depict their basic understanding and cognition of
education systems with their affiliated processing unit (Wilkins and Stark, 2010). With a
composed existence of multiculturism and cosmopolitan, India is presently designated as a well
known and one of the top most educational destination in the global industry of education.
India possess one of the best universities as well as colleges that are successful in offering
attraction to bright talents across the globe. Indian education system is robust as well as built on
stronger foundations (Reid, 2015). It has been gained that India might not be early adopters in
education sector but with access to higher speed broadband internet and lower cost computers
and mobile devices growth has been encountered in the usage of technology for learning. Today
India is considered one of the fastest growing market for e-learning based products as well as
services. It is being expected that the particular segment would have turnover $40 billion by
2017 (Richerme, 2016). There is presence of various ways in which use of technology can be
done for in order to bring reformation in Indian education system.

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