Learners and Learning in India

This paper uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand how the concepts of “learner” and “learning” acquire and denote specific meanings in specific socio-historical contexts. Besides giving a historical overview of these concepts from pre-colonial to independent India, it discusses the various perspectives that inform the debates on learners and learning, draws out the relationship between multiple learning sites and the socio-economic locations of different learners, and explains how these sites and locations shape learners’ identities and impacts their learning.

Don’t assume that because I failed I am stupid and you’re smart. When you reach my class, you’ll be in a sweat when you have to bite into algebra and geometry and study English history—it’s not easy to memorize those kings’ names. There were eight Henrys. Do you think it is easy to remember all the things that happened in each Henry’s time? … And what do these examiners care? They see only what is written in the books. They expect us to learn word by word. And they call this teaching! In the long run, what’s the point of learning all this nonsense? If you bring this perpendicular line down on that line, it will be twice as long, it is four times as long or half as long; what the devil do I care? But you’ve got to pass, so you’ve got to memorize all this garbage.