Describe the education system in pre-british India

There were small institutions called pathshalas which were started by a teacher ( guru ). 1. The system of education was flexible. 2. There were no fixed fee, no printed books, no separate school building, no benches or chairs, no blackboards, no system of separate classes, no roll call registers, no annual examinations, and no regular timetable. 3. In some places classes were held under a banyan tree, in other places in the corner of village shop or temple, or at the guru's home. 4. Fee depended on the income of the parents: the rich had to pay more than the poor. 5. Teaching was oral, the guru decided what to teach, in accordance with the need of the students. 6. Students were not separated out into different classes : all of them sat together in one place. 7. The guru interacted separately with groups of students with different levels of learning. 8. The classes were not held during he harvest time when rural children often go to work in the fields. The pathshalas started once again when the crops had been cut and stored. This meant that even children of Peasant family could study.