Drona-Ekalavya: How mythology has ruined teaching in India
Culture and mythology drive our instinctive beliefs and if you ask anyone about a teacher-student story from our mythology, chances are that they will think of Drona and Ekalavya. The narrative shapes our collective expectations from a teacher and a student and I think has played a major role in poor education in our country.
Ekalavya was a tribal, not an upper caste like Drona’s students, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Drona rejected Ekalavya, an aspirational student, because he didn’t have the right family background. He later did the same thing to Karna. However, Ekalavya clings to Drona’s image. He makes his statue and practices by himself. His motivation and ability is so high that becomes a serious archery stud. When Drona finds out about his brilliance, Ekalavya tells him that he considers Drona as his guru. Drona has no qualms in accepting himself as the guru. Even worse, he demands Ekalavya’s thumb as Guru Dakshina which he readily cuts and hands over.
Ekalavya symbolizes every teacher’s dream: a hardworking, motivated student who learns without any teaching. The most important outcome of this narrative is that our society believes that all onus of learning is on the student. We believe that if a student is ‘good enough’ and motivated, absence of quality teachers, pedagogy and learning resources is no barrier to their learning. We seek out examples of people who have been successful despite these challenges (like Ekalavya) and give them as examples of model students. This explains the popular stand against the No-Detention-Policy as we feel that students are not learning because not failing students has reduced their self-motivation. However, this is not how students learn. Environment, teachers and resources matter and that’s why elites have a disproportionate advantage. This also explains our negligible investment in teacher education, development and work conditions. If students are supposed to do it all, the teacher need not learn how to teach.
The story represents hierarchy at its most oppressive. Hierarchy between teacher and student. The teacher can be selfish, prejudiced and arrogant and teach nothing, yet the student must respect the teacher and credit him/her for all learning. There is no dialogue, just obedience. Whatever the teacher asks of the student, no matter how ridiculous, the student is duty-bound to comply. It is expected that the compliance is done joyfully.
Drona reinforces the idea that as long as one is an expert in a subject, one can be a teacher despite the motivation and philosophy. He becomes a teacher for selfish reasons- to use his students to take revenge on Drupad. Teachers in India use students for their own work all the time. They have little commitment to the idea that all children deserve a high quality education. The system doesn’t prepare them for the challenges of teaching children with differing aptitudes, interests and backgrounds. Neither does it instill the understanding that the system is responsible for a child’s education, not only the student. And last of all, they need to reduce the hierarchy. Their job is to serve the students’ needs, not the other way around.
Our government runs Ekalavya branded residential schools in tribal areas. Do they view themselves as Drona?
