Schooling in India is not just a historical or political phenomenon; rather, it emerges with the beginning of civilization. The roots of modern schooling in Indian society trace back to ancient Gurukulas. It has transformed through the ages, with the amalgamation of contextual innovations in different time periods. Apart from this, the uniformity of institutional structure, however, changed over time, but the philosophy and social foundations remained deeply rooted in the Indian ethos. It is interesting to address issues such as how schooling, as a social or philosophical idea and structure, developed and progressed over time from Gurukulas to NEP 2020, the nature of schools for different social categories with social stratification in both private and public sectors, and how prosocial actors like cinema, learned societies, intellectual movements, and social literature guided the policies and practices in the development of schooling in India.