Buddhist Period:
During the Buddhist period, no educational institutions were present, instead religious centres like monasteries and viharas were the places where education was imparted. Gurukul system in Vedic period was replaced with ‘sangh’. Like Upanayan ceremony, students performed ‘pravrjya’ before entering a sangh. After the completion of ten years, a student had to stay back as a monk (bikshus) in the Sangh for the rest of their life. The Buddhist period was marked by two types of education—primary (included reading, writing and arithmetic) and higher education (included philosophy, Ayurveda, military training).Students were given full freedom to select their courses of study. Some of the subjects during Buddhist period included teachings of Budha vinaya, and dharma.
The teachers in the sangh were required to have spent at least ten years as a monk and to be compassionate and generous. Both the student and teachers were responsible of the monastery but the teacher had the sole responsibility of education, food and clothes of their students. The teachers had to look after and treat their students in case of sickness.
The teachers were required to teach, write books, propagate religion, hold discussion and debates. The teachers were responsible for physical, mental, spiritual and moral development of the students. The teacher was regarded as spiritual father or intellectual father of the student.