Does education influence politics or is it the other way round? Give logical arguments in support of your answer.

Education influences politics

• Education helps to move beyond primordial identities of caste and religion and choose candidates based on real issues.
• Education further makes one aware of her rights, leading to increased participation. Eg recently villagers in Sundergarh, Orissa made Sarpanch candidate to take a written test.
• Education deepens democracy widening its reach. eg T K Oommen says that educated middle class fights for rights of the weak, leading social movements.

Politics influences education

• Kind of state dictates the type of education. For eg erstwhile Communist regimes taught values of communism.
• History textbooks are reinterpreted as per the ideology of the state.
• Education is also comprised of political education given by pressure groups, political parties etc who teach common masses via simple symbols (Merriam and Munro).
• Values taught depend on values of state. Eg Indian education teaches Constitutional morality.