What was the system of education as practiced during in India the pre-British days?

The system of education prevalent in the pre-British days, however defective, served the needs of time.

Tols and Madrassas were higher centers of learning, and Pathsalas and Maktabs were primary schools to impart elementary education.

Pathsalas were held in temple premises or in religious institutions. The pupils here received some knowledge of elementary arithmetic.

In the Maktabs, attached to masjids, learning was confined to the Muslim scriptures. Tols were essentially centers of higher education for the Hindu scholars.

Sanskrit was the medium of instruction in the tols. The subjects, other than the Hindu religious scriptures, taught in the tols included philosophy, grammar, etc.

Nabadwip, Benaras, Mithila, Bikampur, etc. were important centers of higher education.

The Madrassas of Patna, Murshidabad, Delhi, Lahore, etc. emerged as important centers of higher learning in Arabic and Persian.

Persian being the state-language under the Mughals a larger number of pupils attended the Madrassas spread over different parts of the country.