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Since Independence, India’s education system has been shaped by tall leaders. At the portal of freedom stands Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the scholar-revolutionary who served as India’s first education minister for eleven years (1947–1958). At the other end sits Pralhad Joshi, a five-term Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Karnataka, who took charge as India’s new education minister a few days ago on July 26, 2026. Almost 80 years have elapsed between the two. The stark contrast between the two reveals much about how India’s educational vision has altered.

India’s first education minister

Azad was taught at home by his father, Maulana Khairuddin, who selected his teachers. Though Azad never received formal schooling, he was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, English and French through private study. By age 16, he had completed studies in philosophy, mathematics and algebra. Also at age 16, he joined the guerilla movement Jugantar and Anushilan with Shyam Sundar Chakravorty and Rash Behari Ghosh. Azad was a rare combination of high learning, deep intellect and revolutionary activity – a profound thinker, interpreter of religion, upholder of secularism and one of the prime builders of the modern Indian state.

He was also one of India’s earliest political thinkers to define and enunciate the idea of a secular democracy. He believed that Indian nationalism had to be anchored on Hindu-Muslim unity and built on secular concepts of politics and statehood. Azad’s commitment to Hindu-Muslim unity was absolute. Just as a Hindu can say with legitimate pride that he is an Indian as well as a follower of Hinduism, so can a Muslim proudly claim being Indian and a follower of Islam. So can a Christian, Sikh, Jain or Buddhist. In 1923, while serving as Congress president, he said:

“If an angel were to descend from the heavens and proclaim from the heights of Qutab Minar that India will get Swaraj (freedom) within 24 hours provided........

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