Education is an effort of the senior people to transfer their knowledge to the younger members of society. It is thus an insti­tution, which plays a vital role in integrating an individual with his society and in maintaining the perpetuation of culture. Emile Durkheim defines education as “the influence exercised by the adult generation upon those who are not yet ready for adult life”.

He further maintains that “society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity. The homogeneity is perpetuated and reinforced by education. A child through education learns basic rules, regulations, norms and values of society”.
Education thus is an essential prerequisite of modernization. It enables people to know the world beyond their own surroundings and transforms them to become rationalist and humanist in outlook and world view. However, it has to be kept in mind that the education has got modernized and in turn is contributing to the process of modernization of the Indian society.
The traditional education system of India was quite different from the contemporary one. In traditional Indian society, the number of educational institutions was too small and the content of education was esoteric and essentially related with religion, philosophy, metaphysics and scriptural subjects.