Traditions and Cultures in India

India
Indian traditions and culture are widely known worldwide for their uniqueness and diversity. However, we rarely stop to think about why Indians do certain interesting things in certain ways. The majority of these customs can be traced back to ancient Indian texts and scriptures that governed the Indian lifestyle for several centuries (Holidify).
Interesting Areas
In my opinion, the four most intriguing Indian customs, beliefs, and values are:
1. The 'Namaste'
The Namaste/Namaskar represents one among the most widely- recognized Indian customs, currently not limited only to India. Translating to 'I bow to you,' it is one among five traditional greetings described in the Vedas, the ancient scriptural text of Hinduism. The folding of the palms before one's chest that accompanies the words implies 'May our minds meet.' Further, the term 'Namaha' may adopt the following meaning: 'na ma,' implying not mine, for signifying a lowering of one's ego when meeting and greeting another person.
2. Joint Families
The joint family system is very popular in India, with the whole family (older parents, wife, kids, and even some relatives, in certain instances) all living in the same house. This familial system is preferred owing to its efficacy in dealing with stress and pressure in everyday life. It reflects the cohesiveness of Indian Society.
3. Fasting
Fasting/Vrat/Upvas is a key Hindu Cultural element – a means of expressing one's dedication, sincerity, and gratitude to the many Gods and Goddesses. Indians nationwide fast on multiple religious occasions. Meanwhile, some even fast some days in a week (different for different people based on the God/Goddess linked to a particular day). The popular belief is, depriving oneself of food and punishing the body expiates one's sins committed up until the time of fasting.  Fasting- related regulations and rules vary depending on the specific occasion. The ritual of fasting, perhaps, has its origins in a Vedic ritual involving making a sacrifice through lighting a sacrificial fire. As the term 'upvas' is employed to indicate lighting of a sacrificial fire as well as fasting, there is reason to believe that individuals fasted at the time of lighting or relighting fires in their kitchens and for other household purposes for performing everyday sacrifices (Holidify).
4. The Science behind Temples
The majority of temples are situated along the earth's magnetic wave lines, maximizing positive energy. Moolasthan/Garbhagriha (copper plates below temples' main idols) absorb and reflect the energy to their surroundings. Frequent temple visits are, thus, thought to facilitate positive energy acquisition and positivity of mind, resulting in healthier functioning. Moreover, it is a practice to go barefoot into a temple or other place of worship in the country as footwear would take dirt into an otherwise sacred and purified setting (Holidify).
Importance of Education
Within the Indian context, education implies a process of human resource training/teaching and learning within schools and higher educational institutions to enhance knowledge and skills, thereby improving the nation's human resource quality. The nation's prioritization of education is evident in its economic policies (Toppr).
Indian school-level education largely follows one of three streams, with two of them nationally coordinated (including CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), initially intended for central governmental employees' children who have to shift from place to place across the nation owing to parental job transfers) (Kumar). The Indian public system, though, is plagued with several challenges, including ad hoc educator recruitment policies and long gaps before allowing successful candidates to commence teaching (except Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states). The majority of states lack a consistent, organized process for determining the number of teachers required, together with the specific characteristics and qualifications desired for the role (Learning Curve).
Furthermore, India boasts one among the world's most complicated and largest education systems – the nation has more than one million schools that together cater to a student population of over two-hundred million. While significant improvements have been made, of late, to the teaching of the nation's youth, there is still a lot to be accomplished in the nation when it comes to families getting transferred between states availing themselves of individual states' education systems. Fortunately, a large number of global schools have opened up across the metropolitan cities of the nation over time, with several more groups from abroad attempting to establish their campuses in these cities, thereby offering several quality alternatives to frequently- shifting families (Relocate Global).
Indian Society has been making great strides in the areas of both modernization and westernization. To better adapt to and understand these processes, educators are required to carry out several responsibilities beyond their conventional duties. The child-focused educational approach of today calls for educators to focus on individual student demands. Educators ought to cultivate a democratic atmosphere within the classroom that allows for easy sharing of knowledge and construction of new knowledge. They need to adopt a positive classroom management approach, in addition to participating in school management.
Furthermore, they ought to increase their accountability when it comes to promoting change and ensuring self- adaptation to evolving situations within the school and the educational system for better training their students for the future. Class teachers contribute greatly to school management, as well. As staff council members, they are in a position to recommend programs for implementation for furthering progress and to discuss school-and-education-related issues (e.g., discipline) and their resolution. As academic council members, they facilitate academic growth, working as educator representatives in the management committee, and taking part in projects and policy decisions at the grassroots level. They have to contribute to, and supervise, school activities like sports, cultural programs, student tours, admission, exams, school magazine publication, midday meals, etc. Besides, they also engage in more contemporary educator roles like student support and guidance, career counseling, social development, and healthcare (Gayen).
Approach to Disability
Several Indian families display great reluctance when it comes to reporting a case of disability in the family, especially considering the dominant negative attitudes of the majority of Indian communities towards the disabled. Without precise and comprehensive census reports on the nation's disabled population, roughly ninety million disabled individuals are projected to be residing in the country, with 78% residing in rural India. The Western world's dramatic shifts in perceptions regarding the disabled that took place 30 - 40 years ago are only recently occurring in India (Paterson, Boyce & Jamieson).
Disabled individuals are greatly marginalized in the country. While exposure to disability in the nation is common, non- disabled Indians typically treat such persons highly differently from their Western counterparts. The disabled are typically perceived as inferior and somebody to be isolated, supported through charity, or felt sorry for. Moreover, the majority of Indian adults have no experience of attending school with disabled persons as the latter are only recently being accommodated in mainstream schools (Paterson, Boyce & Jamieson). The disabled are generally defined only through their disability and incapability of doing certain things, causing them to be excluded from participation in several societal activities. Lastly, the dominant attitudes towards the disabled are largely arrogant and demeaning.
Indians perceive their offspring as future investments. But, disabled children aren't perceived as an asset that will support or sustain them in their old age. Thus, they prefer to spend their money on healthy (particularly male) children. When a disability is acquired, individuals display more sympathy as they consider his/her functioning ability before the injury or sickness. If the individual has chances of a full recovery from the disability, efforts are put into providing him/her with the requisite services. For example, the breadwinner of an especially affluent household lost both his legs in a train accident. The family ensured he received the right treatment (prosthetic limbs), besides adapting his car to ensure he could regain full functioning. In this very household, a severely disabled boy was born. While the family certainly cared for the child throughout his life, seeing to every basic requirement of his, they didn't seek to increase his independence by consulting a rehab specialist (Pinto & Sahur).
Causation of Disability
According to Hindu religious belief, disability is a sort of punishment inflicted by God on people for evil deeds committed by them in the past. Hence, disabilities are concealed from Society as much as possible. Further, environmental obstacles in urban Indian cities are so great (scant sidewalks, ramps, pedestrian traffic lights, or curb cuts) that the majority of disabled individuals simply cannot navigate in public (Paterson, Boyce & Jamieson).
While families do, naturally, undergo a process of grief and shock in the event of the birth of a disabled child, Indian culture simply accepts this as one's destiny or fate. At the root of this acceptance is a belief in payment for prior sins or karma. As most Indians are unable to access rehabilitation services easily, not much aid is sought in the case of children suffering from lifelong disabilities. Some factors contributing to this difficulty of accessing necessary services for children are financial hardships, illiteracy, and poor transportation facilities (Singhi, Goyal, Pershad, Singhi & Walia).
References
Gayen, Shrabanti. "Role of Teachers in the Changing Scenario in Indian Society" Harvest, vol. 2, 2017, pp.81-83.
Holidify. "11 Unique Culture of India: Customs & Indian Traditions" 2020 https://www.holidify.com/pages/indian-traditions-and-culture-1331.html Accessed 3 July 2020.
Kumar, Varendar. "The Education System in India." 2020 https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-system-india.en.html Accessed 3 July 2020.
Learning Curve. "The Position of Teachers in Our Education System." 2016 http://teachersofindia.org/en/article/position-teachers-our-education-system Accessed 3 July 2020.
Paterson, Joy., Boyce, Wall., & Jamieson, Mark. "The attitudes of community-based rehabilitation workers towards people with disabilities in South India." International Journal of Rehabilitation Research, no. 22, 1991, pp.85–91.
Pinto, Priya., & Sahur, Nupur. "Working with People with Disabilities: An Indian Perspective." 2001 http://cirrie-sphhp.webapps.buffalo.edu/culture/monographs/india.php#si4 Accessed 8 July 2020.
Relocate Global. "The Education System in India." 2019 https://www.relocatemagazine.com/articles/education-schools-the-education-system-in-india-apac1 Accessed 8 July 2020.
Singhi Priya., Goyal, Laxman., Pershad, Dixit., Singhi, Suman., & Walia, Bindiya. "Psychosocial problems in families of disabled children." British Journal of Medical Psychology, no. 63, 1991, pp. 173–182
Toppr. "Education in India." 2020 https://www.toppr.com/guides/economics/human-capital-formation-in-india/education-in-india/ Accessed 3 July 2020.