Definition of Education as per Chanakya

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth."

• A king/leader needs to master four most important vidyas. These are : Anvikshiki – Art of discrimination and thinking through study of philosophies such as Sankhya, Yog and Lokayat ,Trayi – The three Vedas to understand Dharma and righteousness (त्रयी), Varta – Economics and Business (अर्थ-वार्ता), Danda – Governance and Punishment  (दण्ड).
•  Of the four, ability to govern and administer justice is pivotal for establishing a prosperous and dharmic society in order to ensure welfare of its subjects.
• Punishment (Danda) is essential tool of governance. It encourages citizens to conduct their tasks fairly and follow the law of the land. (Incentives and penalties in management parlance)
• But Punishment has to be “Yatharth Danda” – justifiable, reasonable and fair. Excessive control and punishment meted out of vengeance or power hunger will agitate the citizens and may lead to rebellion. On the other hand, too mild a rule will make people take the state for granted and will cause anarchy wherein the powerful will exploit the weak ( “MatsyaNyay” – Big Fish eat small fish.) . Hence, it is the leader’s duty to establish rule of law so that the guilty are punished, criminals are scared but ordinary citizens are not harassed without reason and society functions smoothly.
• How does one ensure Yatharth Danda? A subjective matter, which needs a leader to have wisdom, critical thinking, understanding of nuances of Dharma, Danda-niti and requisite domain knowledge.
• These qualities can be acquired through proper learning and education (of the aforementioned vidyas). However, Chanakya adds a caveat, he says – education can only mold those who have the right mental faculties and ability to listen and think, it can do nothing to those who do not naturally have these faculties.
•  Hence,  a formal learning process is important – both in theory and practical – under accomplished teachers and experts.

Approach to Education

• Chanakya  gives a guideline of when and how formal education should happen. He believes, nurturing of character should begin right from birth and formal learning from the age of 3, and education should have aspects of theory, case studies, experiential learning and hand on training under professionals and experts.
• Formal learning should start after the child’s mundan (tonsure), ~age 3 onwards, with letters and numbers (lipi, sankyaa).
• After upanayan (yagnopavit), typically age 8 onwards – child should be taught Vedas and Anvikshiki (Sciences, Philosophy, Art of thinking (analytics, observation)), Economics and Political science under accomplished teachers and experts. Especially for topics related to governance, the students must learn through both theory and practical from people carrying out those functions.
• During the day, topics relevant for warfare and military both in practical and theory must be learnt, such as taming elephants, using  horses, warfare, military strategies  etc.
• In the second half of the day, time should be spent studying Science, Economics, Polity and Philosophy, hearing stories from history, learning from case studies (Udhaharan), Puranas and Dharmashastras.
• In the remaining time, s/he must revise what was taught and mull over it until the concept is fully understood. Only through repeated listening comes the understanding of application of the concept; and once the application is understood, the learning is imbibed (atmavatta) and vidya-samarthyam (expertise) is achieved).
•  The students should observe bramhacharya at least until the age of 16 and that enter grihastashram (start a family), but the education/learning has to be ongoing. S/he should spend time with elders, learned and experts learning from their experiences and examples.