<P> An early center of learning in India dating back to the 5th century BC was Taxila (also known as Takshashila), which taught the three Vedas and the eighteen accomplishments . It was an important Vedic / Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th century BC to the 5th century AD .' </P> <P> During the Zhou dynasty (1045 BC to 256 BC), there were five national schools in the capital city, Pi Yong (an imperial school, located in a central location) and four other schools for the aristocrats and nobility, including Shang Xiang . The schools mainly taught the Six Arts: rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics . According to the Book of Rites, at age twelve, boys learned arts related to ritual (i.e. music and dance) and when older, archery and chariot driving . Girls learned ritual, correct deportment, silk production and weaving . </P> <P> It was during the Zhou dynasty that the origins of native Chinese philosophy also developed . Confucius (551 BC--479 BC) founder of Confucianism, was a Chinese philosopher who made a great impact on later generations of Chinese, and on the curriculum of the Chinese educational system for much of the following 2000 years . </P> <P> Later, during the Qin dynasty (246--207 BC), a hierarchy of officials was set up to provide central control over the outlying areas of the empire . To enter this hierarchy, both literacy and knowledge of the increasing body of philosophy was required: "...the content of the educational process was designed not to engender functionally specific skills but rather to produce morally enlightened and cultivated generalists". </P>

Who started the first school in the world