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JAINA SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
how the Jaina Church also undertook to train the lay females in reli gion Our knowledge of the responsibility of the Church in imparting the secular education to the lay female scholars 13 very defective In the family the state and the school the female lay scholars studied the whole range of encyclopaedic curricula prescribed for the Art school Their courses of studies were admirably fitted to their physical emo tional and mental growth Emphasis was laid upon the personality of the pupils their special aptitudes interests native abilities and social conditions in giving them the best kind of education as a prepara tion for their domestic and civic duties Thus fine Arts took care of their physical emotional and mental necds and the academic or literary courses including the Vedic courses and the classical languages took note of their intellectual appetite In addition to these needs the needs of society were also taken into account Briesly speaking, as in the monastic school Child life and Society were the standard of educa tion The female scholars were made to study seventy two arts of the Jainas with a specialization in the subject of their choice The courses were organized with a view to fit into the nature and specific abilities of the scholars Thus rigid courses of studies were not forced upon all scholars regardless of their abilities tastes aptitudes and natural bent of mind
The females also received higher education in the Vedic or the Brahmanıc school Female education was not restricted to a particular community but females of all ranks Brahmins Ksatriyas Vaišyas and even adult female cooks could receive the benefit of higher education Diploma of Pandita was conferred upon successful candidates After completing their courses of studies they found employment in various vocations and even a princess of Bhoja engaged herself as a sctibe in copying the Jaina texts
The Art schools were very popular and they were prevalent in the capital cities commercial towns and even in the distant regions of the country
On the education of the princess or the guardians of state the influ ence of the family the church the state and the school was immense The education of the princes began from the prenatal stage to their ad olescence and post adolescence and education was carefully planned and
in the prenatal adjusted to the growing needs of the growing child
