Socialization and Contribution of Educational Thinkers | Crash Course for UGC NET Education PDF Download

Socialization and Contribution of Educational Thinkers

Socialization

Socialization is the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to a group and behave in a manner approved by the group. It is the process by which individuals acquire language, knowledge, skills and values, that makes him/her well adjusted in family , neighborhood, social groups and society . It is of prime importance for an individual, as he/she is prepared and molded with belief's personality and behavior by various social agents i.e. family, peer group, school, etc, through the process of socialization. It is a transmission process, where knowledge and skills are transmitted either formally or informally. It is a process where a person learns about the role, status and value that should have in a society. It leads to the interaction of children with others, in order to make the environment adaptable with respect to current society.

Definitions of Socialization

According to AW Green, "Socialization is the process by which the child acquires a cultural content along with selfhood and personality".

According to Drever, "Socialization is a process by which an individual has adapted his social environment and becomes a recognised, cooperating and efficient member of it".

Process of Socialization

the child resides. Socialization is the process by which children acquire the values, standards, behavior, attitudes and skills that are viewed as appropriate to the culture in which

Rearing The upbringing of a child plays a significant role in the process of socialization of a child. The key factors associated with child rearing includes warmth, rules, behavior control, supportive responsiveness and expectations. Parenting style affects children's traits such as achievement, independence, curiosity, self-reliance, self-control and friendliness.

It means that improper upbringing of a child, leads to the growth of anti-social tendencies in him because of social maladjustment. Therefore, for child socialization, healthy and proper upbringing is essential.

Cooperation Society makes the child social. The cooperation of society plays an important role to socialize the child. Paying attention and expressing your appreciation to your children for not only complying with your request, but doing it in a cooperative manner will impact them in a way that makes them feel good about themselves.

Suggestion It is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings or behavior of another. In child socialization, suggestion plays a significant role. It is a natural fact that a child acts according to the suggestion received from his/her well wishers. Thus, suggestion determines the direction of social behavior.

Social Teaching It also plays an important role in the socialization of children. It includes, family, friends and relations, who guides the child in one way or the other.

Recognition Sympathy, love and suggestion of parents and well wishers, develops a feeling of recognition in the child with others. Those who behave well with the child, the child considers them as his/her well wishers.

Imitation is an advanced behavior where an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. It is also a form of social learning that leads to the development of traditions and ultimately our behavior.

In the socialization of the children, it plays an important role. It imitates the behavior, impulses and feelings of family members. So, learning by imitation is the most powerful means of socializing a child.

Sympathy It is a feeling and concern or it can be the perception, understanding and reaction to the distress or need of another human being. During infancy, child is fully dependent on his family for the fulfillment of all his needs and requirements . It is the sympathy, which develops oneness in the child and he learns to discriminate between his real well-wishers and other members of the society

Controlling Factors of Socialization

•

The child's behavior is to be controlled through reward and punishment, praise or blame, etc.

•

The child should be exposed to good social behavior.

•

The child should be taught to follow the rules of games.

•

Emphasis is given to the qualities like cooperation, respect, obedience etc.

•

Child should be taught to be affectionate towards his peers and friends.

Relationship Between Socialization and Education

Both socialization and education are processes of learning. At one time in the past, the difference between the two was very distinct, but as the time passed that boundary became more blurred. Socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society, it encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained. On the other hand, education is the process of facilitating learning or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits. Through education, society imparts its knowledge to its younger generation.

Thereby, ensuring self-preservation and continuity. In this sense, education is a process of socialization. At the same time, changes in society mold the education system itself and it acquires complexity. Education in this sense is a process, which prepares the members of the society to adapt to the constantly changing conditions of society.

Thus, it can be said that education is a social process and education is the process of socialization.

Culture and Education

Originally, the word 'culture' means 'the cultivation of the soul or mind'. It also signifies man's moral, spiritual and intellectual achievement. Culture is the stock, in trade of groups. It is a medium through which an individual develops and matures. The word 'culture' first appeared in Europe to connote a process of cultivation and improvement, in agriculture.

In the 19th century, the word developed to refer, first to the betterment of the refinement of the individual and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the 19th century, some scientists used the word 'culture' to refer to a universal human capacity. In the 20th century, culture emerged as a central concept, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance.

According to Bogardus, "Culture is composed of an integrated customs, traditions and current behavior patterns of human groups".

According to Hobe, "Culture acts as an integrated system of learned behavior patterns, which are characteristics of the members of a society and which are not a result of biological behaviors".

Characteristics of Culture

Following are the characteristics of culture

Culture is Social Culture does not exist in isolation. It is a product of society. It develops through social interaction. No man can acquire culture without association with others. Man becomes a man only among men.

Culture is Shared Culture is not something that an individual alone can possess. Culture in a sociological sense is shared. e.g., customs, traditions, beliefs, ideas and morale, etc, are all shared by people of a group or society.

Culture is Learnt Culture is not inborn, it is learnt. Culture is often called 'learned ways of behaviour' Unlearned behaviour is not culture. But, shaking hands, saying thanks or namaskar, dressing sense, etc, are all cultural behaviours.

Culture is Transmissive Culture is transmissive as it is transmitted from one generation to another. Language is the main vehicle of culture. Language in different forms, makes it possible for the present generation to understand the achievement of earlier generations. Transmission of culture may take place by imitation as well as by instruction.

Culture is Continuous and Cumulative Culture exists as a continuous process. In its historical growth it tends to become cumulative. Sociologist Linton called culture 'the social heritage of man.' It becomes difficult for us to imagine what society would be without culture.

Culture Varies from Society to Society Every society has its own cutture. It differs from society to society. It is unique. There elements like customs, traditions, morale, values and beliefs are not uniform everywhere. It varies from time to time.

Culture is Dynamic No culture ever remains constant or changeless, it keeps on changing. It is subject to slow, but constant change. It peeps and changes is responsive to the changing conditions of the physical world.

Culture is Gratifying It provides proper opportunities for the satisfaction of our needs and desires. Our needs both ways. It's biological and social are fulfilled in the cultural determination and guides various activities of man. Thus, culture is defined as the process through which human beings satisfy their wants.

From the above discussion, it is clear that each and every society has a culture of its own. It is not only diverse, but also unequal, and is found in different societies throughout the world.

Association of Education and Culture

Culture is closely related to education, in which educational system of any society has a clear impact on its culture. The basis of educational system of a society are its need and they are fulfiled by education. Culture has its impact on education e.g., in a communistic culture, materialism is more powerful than spiritualism. It means the mode of education is towards material progress.

Culture Based Education (CBE) positively impacts students socio-emotional well being e.g., identity, self-efficacy, social relationship, etc. It also affects cultural affiliation, civic engagement and school motivation.

Culture Based Education is also more likely to put cultural skills to use in their communities and report higher levels of trusting relationship with teacher and staff, underscoring a deeper sense of belonging at school. The strength of these connections is critical for producing engaged and successful learners, as they prepare for the future.

Cultural Based Education Language. Cultural content. Ł Ł Socio-emotional Educational outcomes. development. Student's engagement. Student's behaviour. Self-worth Student's achievement and cultural identity. growth.

Relationship Between Culture Based Education and Its Outcome

The ultimate relationship between culture and education is evident from the fact that one of the major aims of education is to educate the child about his cultural heritage, In any human group, the various elements and parts of culture evolve after thousands of years of experience and these are handed down as a whole to the succeeding generations. Hence, every individual is born into a particular culture, which provides him definite behaviour and values, which guides his conduct in different patterns of Behaviour and values which guides his conduct in different walks of life. Culture plays an important role in man's life in the adaptation to the natural environment, in the adaptation to the social environment and in the development of personality and socialisation.

Education as a part of culture has the twin functions of conservation and modification or renewal of the culture. Education is conceived as a systematic effort to maintain a culture. In its technical sense, "education is the process by which society, through schools, colleges, universities and other institutions, deliberately transmit its cultural heritage, its accumulated knowledge, values and skills from one generation to another". Education is an instrument of cultural change.

Education can impart knowledge, training and skills as well as inculcate new ideas and attitudes among the young. It is a culture in which education germinates and flowers. It is the culture, also upon which education exerts, in tum, a nourishing influence. The intimate relationship between culture and education is to impart to the child cultural heritage and social heritage. Every individual is born into a particular culture which provides him with definite patterns of behaviour and values which guide his/her conduct in different walks of life. Thus, culture plays an important role in the life of a person.

Influence of Culture on Education

As mentioned above, culture and education have a give and take relationship. Both are complementary to each other in various aspects.

The following are some of the influences of culture on education

Aim and Ideals of Education They are mostly determined by the values and patterns of society. Curriculum It is conditioned according to the culture of society. It is framed according to the ideals and needs of the society to realise the cultural values.

Method of Teaching and Culture They are intimately connected to each other. The changing cultural patterns of a society exerts powerful influence upon the method of teaching also. The shift from the old-centred teaching to child-centred education is an example. Socialised Method like Project Method, seminar, symposium, discussion, etc are widely used in the teaching-learning process because of the influence of culture.

Discipline It is also influenced by cultural values. The present cultural patterns of thinking and living are directly linked to our concept of discipline. The concept of repressive discipline of ancient and middle ages has been replaced by the modern values of life.

Textbooks are written according to the formulated curriculum. Only these books which promote and foster cultural ideals and values are welcomed.

Teacher He/she is one who has imbibed the cultural ideals and values of the society to achieve his mission successfully. Only such a teacher is able to infuse higher ideals and moral values in children.

School is a miniature of society. The total activities and programmes of the school are organised according to the cultural ideals and values of the society. Hence, school is the centre of promoting, moulding, reforming and developing the cultural pattern of the society.

Influence of Education on Culture

Just as culture influences education, in the same way education also exerts a powerful influence upon the culture of a country

Following are the various ways by which education influences the culture of a country

Preservation of Culture Each country believes and flaunts the superiority of its own culture over the rest. Hence, it tries to preserve its culture in its original form. Education is the only means to complete this task. Thus, education preserves the culture of the society.

Transmission of Culture The process of preservation includes the process of transmission as well. Transmission of culture from one generation to another is the best guarantee of its preservation.

The famous sociologist, Ottaway says that "The function of education is to transmit the social values and ideals to the young and capable members of the society".

Development of Culture The function of education is to bring about the needed and desirable changes in the cultural ideals and values for the progress and continued development of society, without which social progress cannot take place.

Continuity of Culture Culture is the life and blood of society. Without culture a society is bound to decay and die sooner or later. Education upholds the continuity of culture through its diverse activities and programmes. A society establishes schools to preserve and transmit its culture from generation to generation.

Development of Personality Education employs diverse cultural patterns of thinking behaviours and items of cultural values, so that children are physically , mentally, socially and emotionally developed to the maximum extent. Thus, education aims at developing the personality of the child.

Removal of Cultural Lag Material culture develops at a fast pace due to scientific researches and innovations, whereas non-material culture consisting of ideals, values and norms lags behind creating a gulf between the two. Education is the only means to bridge this cultural lag by its activities and programmes of development.

Contribution of Educational Thinkers

Educational thinkers love to dwelt on the Philosophy of Education and its related aspects like knowledge, intelligence, mind and the function of teaching and learning. Among others, we will discuss the few renowned thinkers from Indian origin to Western thinkers.

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda's original name was Narendranath Dutt. He was born in an affluent family in Calcutta (Kolkata) on 12th January, 1863. He acquired his new name in 1886, when he took sanyasa. He was an Indian Hindu monk and chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna. He belonged to a traditional Bengali Kayastha (caste of Hindus) family and was one of the nine siblings. His father Vishwanath Dutta, was a successful practising lawyer at Calcutta High Court. His mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi, was endowed with deep devotion, strong character and other

qualities. The progressive rational approach of Narendranath's father and the religious temperament of his mother helped in shaping his thinking and personality.

Swamiji graduated with honours from Calcutta University, He was deeply interested in the study of Philosophy and. religion. Swamiji's first introduction to saint Ramakrishna was held at Dakshineswar. The meeting with Ramakrishna Paramhansa was a turning point in his life. Swami Ramakrishna was an enlightened soul. In 1888, two years after his master's death he set out to the Himalayas. He wandered for two years through deserts and forests

On 1st May, 1897 at Calcutta, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission, the organ for social service. In this mission, monks undertake propagation of practical Vedanta. The ideals of the Ramakrishna Mission are based on Karma Yoga. The headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission was at Belur Math.

Swami Vivekananda was a staunch individualist. He believed in the immortality of the soul and God. Swamiji showed four paths i.e.,path of work, worship, contemplation and knowledge. He believed in religion, which is science based and urged for the rights of women.

Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda

"All the power is within you, you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, don't believe that you are weak. Stand-up and -Swami Vivekananda express the divinity within you". Teachings and Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda stressed on different aspects of religion, education, character building as well as social issues pertaining to India.

Swami Vivekananda's teachings propagated the advaitic principles as far more reaching on the social and political front, apart from its philosophical aspect.

Rabindranath Tagore commented on Swami Vivekananda and his teachings that "If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him, everyone is positive and nothing negative. Vivekananda realised a country's future depends on its people, so he mainly stressed on man, 'man making is my mission", that's how he described his teachings".

Vivekananda was a Hindu monk from India, who played a significant role in introducing Vedanta to the Western world and also reviving and re-defining certain aspects of the religion within India. To him, the emerging compassion that transforms into a strong determination to help others, who are unaware of the oneness, is the true mark of an enlightened person are the keynote of Philosophy of Vivekananda,

It can be represented as follows

Essence of Education

To Vivekananda, education was not only a collection of information, but something more meaningful. He felt education should be man making, life giving and character building. To him, education was noble ideas i.e. "Education is not the amount of information an assimilation of that you put into your brain and runs not there, undigested, all your life.

We must have life building, man making, character making, assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man, who has got by heart a whole library".

Positive Education

Vivekananda stressed on giving the positive education only because negative thoughts weaken men. He said, if young boys and girls are encouraged and are not unnecessarily criticised all the time, they are bound to improve in time.

Religion

He was a follower of Vedanta. He received an important teaching from Ramakrishna that "Jiva is Shiva' (each individual is divinity itself). According to him, man is potentially divine, so service to man is indeed service to God. Vivekananda said that we must not only tolerate other religions but positively embrace them and that the truth is the basis of all religions.

National Integration

According to Swami Vivekanand, Sectarian violence and growing intolerance are threatening social harmony and national security. Intolerance of all kinds, be it religious tolerance, caste intolerance all have been on the rise for sometime, threatening the integrity of the nation.

Human Mind

Swamiji suggested that not to do anything which disturbs the mind or makes it restless. Swamiji compared the human mind with a monkey who is always restless and incessantly active by his own nature.

Women Development

It is completely unfair to discriminate between sexes. He suggested not to think that there are men and women, but only that there are human beings. According to Swami Vivekananda, "The ideal of womanhood in India is motherhood, the marvellous, unselfish, all suffering, ever forgiving

mother". He felt two evils in India i.e. trampling on the women and grinding the poor through caste restriction.

Philosophy of Education

On the Philosophy of Education, Swami Vivekananda said that "all knowledge i.e. secular or spiritual, is in the human mind". In many cases, it is not discovered, but remains covered and when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say that "we are learning and the advance of knowledge is made by this process of uncovering". What Swamiji means is not any sectarian religion, but qualities like truthfulness, justice, selflessness and concern for others. The learner must be free from all prejudices and preconceived notions and receive from his teacher learning, which is a trust.

Implications of Vivekananda's Philosophy

Swami Vivekananda looked upon education from two viewpoints and they are

•

Transcendental view

•

Empirical view

From the transcendental point of view, "Education is defined as manifestation of the perfection already in man" This is in consonance with the teaching of Advaita Vedanta.

From the empirical point of view, "Education is defined as that kind of training and skill by which man's will power is brought under control and becomes conductive to the good of humanity as a whole".

So far, the first definition is concerned that one cannot fail to notice the implications of the Advaita Vedanta, contained in the definition. According to Advaita Vedanta, "Man is potentially divine, he is identical with the supreme reality, which is Brahman or existence consciousness bliss". Only on account of the cloud of ignorance, which covers his nature, he cannot realise his divine nature. Education helps him to manifest his own potential divinity. While the second definition is concerned that Swami Vivekananda looks upon education as an instrument of social change.

"Education should aim at character building of an individual and promote selflessness and courage".

During his time, Vivekananda insisted that our education should be conducted on national lines through natural methods. It was he, who inspired his countrymen to develop a sense of pride in their cultural heritage yet was not a blind follower of the ancient cultural heritage of our country. All he wanted was to provide a synthesis between tradition and modernity.

What he wanted to emphasise, was that emotional attachment to and reverence for traditional values is not enough. One has to examine how far traditional values are relevant in the modem context. He had this in mind, when he insisted on a synthesis of Vedanta and Western Science as a model of our educational planning and programme.

Fortunately, India has believed in such education and knowledge, since the days of the Upanishads. Only Upanishads are the literature in the world which teaches man to find and realise within himself the implications of the word Abhih (fearlessness). It urges a person to believe in himself and believe in the oneness of the universe. Religion underlines that man has to live for all beings. All are one and invisible.

Vivekananda had warned that a major shortcoming of Eastern Civilisation (for which he had great admiration in many other ways) was that it thought intellectual education alone was enough, without taking care of the heart. Only that kind of education can made a mind more selfish.

Today, India along with the rest of the world, has to give the topmost priority of the dissemination of an education that will inspire every human being to work for amity and fellowship to ave internal peace and search for resolving all conflicts. Spiritual education seeks to bring home the message that "He alone sees, who sees all beings as himself'.

For the world, a time has come to realise, more than ever before, a value education makes a man realise his spiritual nature. Only a man conscious of his spiritual self can be truly secular in his conviction and outlook. Religious education brings out the spirituality of man and that is the only life giving force.

Aims of Education

According to Swami Vivekananda, the following should be the main aims of education :

Creation of Self-Confidence and Self-Realisation All through his life, Swamiji exhorted the individuals to keep full confidence upon their powers. They should inculcate a spirit of self­surrender, sacrifice and renunciation of material pleasures for the good of others. Education should inculcate all these qualities in an individual. In Swamiji's own words, "Faith in us and faith in God, this is the secret of greatness."

Formation of Character Character is the aggregate of a man's tendencies, the sum total of the best of his mind. We are what our thoughts have made us. Education must build-up character and manifest our real nature.

Development of Personality Personality is the influence of the impression that one creates on the others. It is the personality of a man that counts.

According to Vivekananda, "Personality is two-third and his intellect and words are only one-third in making the real man".

Reaching Perfection The prime aim of education is to achieve fullness of perfection, already present in the child. According to Swamiji, "All material and spiritual knowledge is already present in man covered by a curtain of ignorance".

Physical and Mental Development The main aim of education is that the child should able to promote national growth and advancement as a fearless and physically well developed citizen of tomorrow. Stressing the mental development of the child, Swamiji wished education to enable the child to stand on his own feets economically, rather than becoming a parasite on others.

Moral and Spiritual Development According to Swami Vivekananda, "A nation's greatness is not only measured by its parliamentary institutions and activities, but also by the greatness of its citizens. But, the greatness of citizens is possible only through their moral and spiritual development, which education should foster".

Religious Development Each individual should be able to search out and to develop the religious seed, embedded in him and thus, find the absolute truth or reality. Swamiji

advocated the training of feelings and emotions, so that the whole life is purified and sublimated.

Searching Unity in Diversity The true aim of education is to develop insight into the individuals, so that they are able to search out and realise unity in diversity.

Curriculum

He was not in favour of the prevalent system of education in the county, as the education in India was influenced by the British system of education. Curriculum should synthesise the knowledge and wisdom of the east and the west. He also attached great importance to the physical development of the individual, for which he wanted to include physical education as an integral part of the curriculum.

Discipline

According to him, "Discipline is an important aspect of a person's character, each of us teach ourselves". The external teacher offers suggestions and the internal teacher starts working. If you don't allow a child to become a lion, he will become a fox. Do's and don'ts have to be reduced and the right environment must be created.

Role of Teacher and Student in Education

According to swami Vivekananda, a person with an attitude of renunciation, influences children through his ideal examples, loves his students, sympathises with their difficulties, teaches

according to the needs, abilities and interest of them, contributes to their spiritual development so that they can be good teachers.

A student should have an inclination and eagerness to learn. He should be an observer of celibacy, have control over his senses, and follow the ideals laid down by his teacher.

He laid stress on the following qualities, that a teacher should have :

•

He should be sinless.

•

He should know the spirit of scriptures.

•

The spiritual force of the teacher should be based on love for his students.

•

The teacher should think that he is only helping the child to grow. He is the external teacher and he offers the suggestion, which arouses the internal teacher, i.e., the mind of the child.

Methods of Teaching

With regard to teaching methods, Swamiji was of the view that children should be made to learn by themselves. As all knowledge is within them and learning is only a function of their mind, to make them active, Methods like self-learning, discussion meditation and concentration are used for teaching.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was born in a family of Brahmo Samajists. He studied law. He was a born poet, a versatile genius, with his multi-splendored personality, he shines like a morning star on the intellectual firmament of the globe and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in November, 1913 for his world famous classic "Gitanjali'. He was a great artist, and he founded his own school of art and music. He was well versed in Sanskrit language and Indian Philosophy, religion and culture. He was a rishi, a saint and a guru also called as prophet and educationist.

Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore

His philosophy of life was based on the ideals of dedication, patriotism and naturalism. He was an ideal philosopher, but the thoughts of naturalism, pragmatism and individualism are aslo reflected in his philosophy.

W Like Rousseau, Tagore was an individualist and naturalist. He believed in the rights and freedom of an individual to shape his life in his own way. But in an individual's development. he ultimately wanted the unity of mankind. He said that every individual is differentfrom another and everyone is unique.

"Experience of the spiritual world, religion as the right centre of life's activities and the unity of thought and truth" was the keynote of Tagore's great philosophy.

The following are the values enriched as a philosopher, according to Tagore

As an Individualist He believed in giving the right type of freedom to an individual.

As an Idealist He believed that the man should live for the ultimate truth, which liberates us from the cycle of birth and death. He should have faith in absolute values.

As a Spiritualist He believed that every individual should try to attain spiritual perfection.

As a Humanist He preached human brotherhood, having faith in fundamental unity of mankind. He remarked that "even God depends upon man, for perfecting his universe".

As a Naturalist He considered nature as a great teacher, God revealed himself through various forms, colours and rhythm of nature

As a Vedantist He had a firm belief in the Philosophy of Veda. He believed in 'I am Brahma'.

Educational Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore

The basic principles of Tagore's philosophy of education are as follows

•

Harmony with All Things Tagore's philosophy of education is based on naturalism, humanism, internationalism and idealism. Harmony with all things means harmony with nature, human surroundings and harmony in international relations.

•

Principle of freedom.

•

Principle of creative self-expression.

•

Active communion with nature and man.

According to Tagore, "Education is to produce good thinkers and achievers in all aspects of life, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual. An educated person is ready to serve society and country at all times".

He was fully aware of education's innumerable implications. According to Tagore, "Education is a permanent part of the adventure of life, it is not like a painful hospital treatment for curing them of the congenial melody of their ignorance, but is a function of the health, the natural expression of their mind's vitality".

To him, the object of education is freedom of mind through the path of freedom, though it has its risks and responsibilities too. Education should be natural in content and quality. Through contact with nature, the child will be introduced to the great world of reality easily and jointly.

Factors Influencing Tagore's Philosophy of Education

•

Influence of the home environment.

•

Influence of the school environment

•

Love for nature

•

His extensive visits

Tagore's Literary Works

Poetry Tagore's poems are varied in style and subject matter.

Gitanjali His most known collection, winning him Nobel Prize in the year. This collection replicates the true Indian Philosophy in all its glory

Novels Tagore wrote novels, such as Gora Chaturanga, Shesher Kobita, Char Adhyay, Noukadubi and The Home and The World.

Story Books Tagore composed some beautiful stories, which are worthy to read. The HungryStones is one of importance.

Kabuliwala It depicts the friendship of a fruit seller from Kabul and little mini instead of their age difference

Aims of Education

Moral and Spiritual Aims Tagore said that the principal's aim of education should be the development of moral and spiritual aspects of the child's personality. For this, he emphasized upon inner development, attainment of inner freedom, inner power and enlightenment. One of the important objectives of starting Shantiniketan was 'to give Curriculum spiritual culture to our boys.

Education should enable the child to realize self and help them to develop the self-force. He wanted to develop an unflinching faith in the spiritual force. Further, he stressed moral training and development of character through austere devotion and development of inner-discipline

Physical Development Tagore emphasized the physical well-being of the children. In order to achieve this. he said that education in nature, play activities. dancing, exercise. body and sensory training were the tools. Education of the body is necessary for acquiring the capacity to adjust itself to all sorts of weather conditions and health hazards.

Intellectual Development Condemning the prevailing system of education as bookish, methodical, monotonous, examination oriented, where intellect was starved of intellectual nourishment and where we adorned the cage but the parrot within lays starving. Tagore wanted education should aim at cultivating the power of acquiring ideas through independent effort.

curiosity and alertness of mind and the potentiality of critically appraising the ideas, of assimilating them and of using what we learn. Education should develop thinking and imagination rather than mere memory or storage of scattered information.

International Brotherhood Being a lover of humanity, Tagore wanted to make a synthesis between Eastern culture and Western culture by education. He wanted to promote inter-cultural and inter-social understanding for the unity and harmony of mankind. He said that since Brahman manifests himself through men and he is the source of all the creations, all are equal and are brothers and sisters. Therefore, he prescribed social service for realization of self. He believed in the dictum that "Service to man is service to God"

Education for Fullness According to Tagore, 'The aim of education should be harmonious development of all human faculties". In other words, education should aim at making a man full or complete without neglecting one at the cost of another.

Discipline

According to Tagore, "An educational institution is an open house, in which students and teachers are one, they must live their compact life together".

He observed that an educational institution must not be a dead cage, in which living minds are fed with food artificially prepared". About the discipline of the educational institution, Tagore founded and states that "I never said to them that don't do this, or don't do that. The boys are encouraged to managed their own affairs".

curriculum

Tagore was in favour of a comprehensive curriculum, which should satisfy a child's aesthetic, creative, spiritual and vocational needs.

In Tagore's experimental school at Shanti Niketan, children were taught in various classes. These schools had a well equipped laboratory for performing experiments. The study of nature is also taught here.

Methods of Teaching

Rabindranath Tagore believed in activity and dynamic methods of teaching based upon the interest, need, ability and mental development of the child. He labelled the then system of teaching as bookish, mechanical, stereotyped, dull and uninteresting. He strongly suggested independent study and efforts. Learning should proceed from familiar to unfamiliar, hear to far and known to unknown.

Learning should be linked with joy and ecstasy. He wanted to give education in natural surroundings characterised by freedom and creativity. He said that teaching while walking is the best method of teaching. He favoured discussion, activity or learning by doing methods.

Role of the Teacher

Rabindranath Tagore has placed a high premium upon the role of teacher. The teacher is the cardinal embodiment of all cardinal values and ideas. According to him. the teacher should not be a hard task master rather a friend, philosopher and guide. He advocated that the relationship between teacher and pupil should be friendly in nature.

Tagore laid great emphasis on the attitude of the teacher. He said that "I have found that little children learn more quickly, the attitude of the teacher than the knowledge imparted by him". Tagore concept of good teacher is stated in these words that "A teacher can never truly teach, unless he is still leaming himself" i.e. "A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to be its own flame"

The teacher, who has come to the end of his subject, who has no living traffic with his knowledge, but merely repeats his lesson to his students, can only load their minds, he cannot quicken them. Truth, not only informs but also inspires. Tagore never liked the school master moulding the child's mind according to his ready-made doctrines.

According to Tagore, the first important lesson for children would be that of improvisation. They should be provided constant opportunities to explore their capacities through surprises of achievement. It is not the subject of study, organisation and equipment in the school that is important, but the living contact between the mind of the teacher and the mind of the taught that is important.

Visvabharati and Shantiniketan

The word 'Visvabharati' is composed of two words. In Sanskrit, the word 'Visva' means 'world' and 'bharti' means 'culture'. Thus, Visvabharati means world culture. The motto of this university is Yatra Visvam Bhavati Ekamidami.e. where the world meets at one place. Through the Visvabharati as a whole, the poet and the seer sought to establish a relationship between East and West, to promote inter-cultural and inter-social amity and understanding and to fulfil the highest mission of the present age and the unification of mankind.

Shantiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the district of West Bengal. It was established by Maharshi Debendranath Tagore and later expanded by his son Rabindranath Tagore whose vision became what is now a university town Visvabharati University', Shantiniketan means 'the abode of peace'.

Mahatma Gandhi

According to him, "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will".

Biography

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born at Porbandar, Kathiawar, Western India on 2nd October, 1869. Gandhiji was popularly known as Bapu out of affection and reverence by the people. His father, Karamchand Gandhi served as the Diwan of Porbander State, a small princely state in the Kathiawar Agency of British India. His mother, Putlibai, was from a Pranami Vaishnava family.

He was sent to a local high school, but as a student, he was slow, shy and hesitant. He was married to Kasturba at the age of 13. At 18, Gandhiji matriculated at Ahmedabad. He was sent to London to study law, where he remained for three years. After returning from South Africa, he started his law practice at Bombay. However, he was not very successful. He returned to his native place, Rajkot. Here, he received an offer from an Indian firm, which had a branch in South Africa, to go to that country to help them in an important case.

In April, 1893, he sailed for Durban. Although his case was over, he continued to stay in Africa. There, he saw a series of insulting events of disgracing Indians and his political feeling was awakened. He founded the Natal Indian Congress in 1894. This was the turning point in his life. He found that the Indians in South Africa were treated very cruelly and in fact like animals. They had no political rights. He gave up his legal practice. He completely devoted himself to the service of the people. He put himself into the practice of Satyagraha and Ahimsa. Mahatma Gandhi is considered as 'Father of the Indian Independence Movement". Gandhiji spent 20 years in South Africa, working to fight discrimination. He spent his remaining years, working diligently to both i.e. to remove British rule from India as well as to better the lives of India's poorest classes. He was a modem Messiah, whose life became the message to the world.

Philosophy of Gandhiji

According to Mahatma Gandhi, "Man is the maker of his own destiny and I therefore ask you to become makers of your own destiny". He was a great thinker and experimenter. He formulated his own views about everything in the world.

Gandhiji's philosophy of fife can be described as follows

Truth and Ahimsa (Non-Violence) According to him, "Truth and Ahimsa are the two sides of a coin. They are intertwined and it is practically impossible to separate them". Satyagraha It implies holding of truth through love and purity.

Supreme God According to him, "God is an indefinable, mysterious power that pervades everything. God's presence is proved not by extraneous evidence but in the transformed conduct and character of those who have felt the real presence of God within".

Righteousness and Truth as the Highest Religion Gandhiji was of the firm view that "true religion and true morality are inseparably bound up with each other."

Service of Humanity The immediate service of all human beings becomes a necessary part because it is the only way to see him in his creation.

Ram Rajya as the Concept of a Society He identified society with justice, peace, happiness and welfare of all.

Fundamental Principles of Education Proposed by Mahatma Gandhi

The following are the fundamental principles of education

Indian Control on Education British control over Indian education policies was presented. National education must be controlled, shaped and carried by Indians only.

Fostering Patriotism Education should not cultivate loyalty to British rule. Instead, it should promote national consciousness and a love of the motherland.

No Servile Imitation of the West Although, many lessons were to be learnt from foreign cultures, Indian education should be based on its own cultural and intellectual traditions.

Domination of English Language to Go The use of English as the medium of instruction was considered a serious defect of the official system. The media of instruction should be the modem vernaculars.

Vocational Education to be Emphasised The failure of the prevailing system to improve living standards for India's masses were deplored. National education should have a vocational emphasis and focus on the economic development of the country.

Basic Education

The origin of Basic System of Education may be traced back to July, 1937, when Gandhiji wrote in Harijan (a journal started by him) that "By education, I mean an all round development drawing out of the best in child and man-body, mind and spirit. Literacy itself is not education. I would, therefore, begin the child's education by teaching it a useful handicraft and enabling it to produce from the moment it begins its training. Thus, every shcool can be made self-supporting, the condition being the state takes over the manufacture of these schools." In October, 1937, a Conference of National Workers was held at Wardha, under the Chairmanship of Mahatma Gandhi.

Educational Implications of Gandhian Philosophy

The real education has to draw out the best from the boys and girls to be educated.

According to him, "By education I mean an all round drawing out of the best in child and man­body, mind and spirit".

There are several factors that determined the educational philosophy of Gandhiji and they are

•

His educational experiments at Tolstoy Farm, at Sabarmati and Sewagram Ashrams.

•

His philosophy of life.

•

His dissatisfaction with the prevailing system of education

•

A new social order.

The chief tenets of Gandhiji's new educational philosophy were as follows

Free and Compulsory Education According to Gandhiji, within the age of 7 and 14, there should be free and compulsory primary education for childrens.

Craft-Centred Education Gandhiji believed that the highest development of mind and the soul was possible only through handicraft . He did not want to teach the handicraft side by side with the liberal education. It was his wish that the whole process of education should be imparted through some handicraft or industry.

Self-Supporting Element By advocating the self. supporting aspect, he never wanted the craft to be made the be-all and end-all of instruction, thus, sacrificing the educative and cultural objectives of education. He believed that the right kind of teachers would teach the children, the dignity of labour and those children would regard the crafi as an integral part and means of their intellectual growth.

Education should be in Mother Tongue He believed that mother tongue would enable the children not only to understand clearly the rich heritage of people's ideas, emotions and aspiration, but also enable the children to express themselves effectively, clearly and lucidly.

Education should be Based on Non-Violence Gandhiji had firm conviction in non-violence, so he wanted that it should be based on non-violence. Society's politics, economics and education must stand on non-violence, truth and justice.

Aims of Education

All Round Development of Personality By all round development, he means, development of body, mind and spirit. All round development implies harmonious development of human personality in a balanced manner i.e. hand, head and heart. This emphasises 3 Rs instead of 3 Rs i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic. Development of either two, neglecting the one aspect of personality leads to lop-sided education or incomplete education.

Harmonious development of all powers and faculties was the chief goal of his scheme of education. He emphasised this type of development as the child could adjust himself to self, his occupation and his environment adequately.

The Utilitarian Aim He advocated self-supporting education, taking into account the basic needs of man's life which was meant in two different senses i.e.

(i)

Education that will help one to be self-supporting in later life which implies that the child of tomorrow's adult would not be a drag on society. This type of education will tum him into a self­sufficient entity and this education will be a kind of insurance against unemployment.

(ii)

In the second, he wanted that teacher's salaries should be met out of the productive work of the children, provided that the state takes over the manufacture of the school.

Cultural Aim Gandhiji attached greater importance to the cultural aspect of education than to literacy. Culture is a quality of mind which may be reflected in his daily conduct.

He said, "It should show itself in the smallest details of your conduct and personal behaviour, how you sit, how you walk, how you dress, etc. Inner culture must be reflected in your speech, the way in which you treat visitors and guests, and behave towards one another and your teachers and elders".

According to him, "Culture is not the product of intellectual work, but the quality of the soul, permeating all aspects of human behaviour". It is, therefore, an important function of education that children must be taught to have winsome conduct and to have a career and our pupils must not remain alien in their native lands with rich cultural tradition and ethos.

Character Building He made character-building as the central purpose of education. Character development, for him, implies the cultivation of such moral virtues as courage, strength of conviction, purity of heart and personal life, righteousness. self-restraint, inner-discipline, subordination of one's interest to the greater interest of society and service of mankind.

This character is too built up in terms of universal love and non-violence. He said that character is the expression of the whole personality including its ethical and spiritual aspect. Thus, if character is well built, the society would evolve itself in a new form and fashion without dependence upon others.

Preparation for Complete Living Like Herbert Spencer, he stressed preparation for complete living as one of the aims of education. Since life is very complex and beset with a plethora of problems and difficulties, education should aim at preparing the future citizens to face the problems of life, here and there. A child was considered prepared for complete living if he could adjust himself to self, his occupation and his society.

Training for Citizenship He aimed at producing useful citizens for a democracy by means of education. The future citizens should understand their problems, rights and duties in proper perspectives and know the democratic institutions that work for the good of all. Education should aim at building citizens imbued with all cardinal qualities of good citizen.

Therefore, he spearheaded a silent revolution by education to cover all the sections and segments of people by eliminating all sorts of discrimination. He believed that for a success of democracy, it was the need of training the pupils, the budding citizens in citizenship qualities. Therefore, he made a slogan, 'Educate your masters',

Individual and Social Aim He synthesized the individual and social aims of education. He wanted a society in which all individuals will have to play their part for the good of the whole, without losing their individual characters and identities. He does not want to damp down the individuality. He strikes a balance between the ideals of social service and individual development.

Discipline

He was critical of free discipline and strongly favoured inner-discipline through self-control and not by being free to follow stray impulses. He thought that freedom embedded in self-discipline or inner-discipline that arises spontaneously from the inner springs of life rather than that which is clamped from without is called true freedom.

This self-discipline is voluntary discipline which emanates from the following i.e. pure life, self­restraint, fearlessness, sacrifice, usefulness and practice of non-violent conduct.

Further, he favoured social discipline through some productive works based upon cooperation, initiative, accuracy and individual responsibility. This form of social discipline can emerge from living mutually in the society by cultivating ideals of citizenship necessary for a vibrant and living democracy.

Role of Teacher

He thought that only the right type of teacher could help in achieving the objectives of education. He should be a lover of truth and non-violence and he should possess a sound base of knowledge, skill, enthusiasm, patriotism, dedication, love for children and labour, respect for the dignity of individuals and special training in the basic education.

He should be a man of action, not a man of slogan and should have a good moral character and a social bent of mind. He should lead a pure and simple life and be a man of ideals and a saga of examples.

Curriculum

Gandhiji advocated complete overhauling of the curriculum. He suggested a broad-based and integrated curriculum for realising the objectives of education and developing the whole man. He included the following aspects in his scheme of studies

Basic Craft Agriculture, spinning and weaving, cardboard, wood and metal work, tailoring, gardening, business practice, book-keeping, etc.

Mother Tongue As opposed to teaching of English and other foreign languages.

Mathematics Concerning numerical and geometrical problems connected with craft and community life. Besides, learning offour basic rules by sincerely working out the problems arising out of craft work and gardening.

Social Studies History, Civics and Geography.

General Science Nature's study, Zoology, Physics Chemistry, Astronomy, Physiology, Hygiene, etc.

Drawing and Music For the development of artistic talents.

Methods of Teaching

Correlation He advocated the Principle of Correlation in teaching different subjects. Craft is the pivot round which all other subjects should revolve. He wanted all subjects need to be correlated with craft. Craft should be the starting point of other subjects and a meeting point of both physical and social environment. Therefore, craft is the medium of instruction.

Learning by Doing He said that learning would be permanent if it is permeated by doing. It can be possible if children are given opportunities to undertake a host of productive activities. So, in his scheme, learning by doing was the important method of teaching.

Learning by Living Leaming takes place by actually participation in community life and rendering selfless service to the cause of goodness of all. This makes learning social.

Lecture Questioning and Division Methods These methods were followed in his scheme of education.

Thus, it can be said that Gandhi philosophy of education still hold a promise for better tomorrow in the modern scenario of rapid, scientific and technological advancement.

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

According to Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, "The aim of (my) Yoga is an inner-self development, by which each one who follows it, can discover it on time. The oneself in all evolves a higher consciousness, than the mental, a spiritual and supra-mental consciousness which will transform and divinise human nature".

Biography

Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist, a freedom fighter, a Philosopher, a Yogi and a Poet. He was born in an educated middle class family of Calcutta (Kolkata) in Bengal on 15th August, 1872. At

the age of 7, he went to England and lived there for 14 years. He received his education at Cambridge. Besides English, he mastered Latin and Greek and learnt French, German, Italian and Spanish. He knew all the classical languages and modern European languages and could read Dente and Goethe in the original.

His father, Krishnadhan Ghosh, was district surgeon at Rangapur, Bengal. His mother Swarnalata Devi was the daughter of Brahma religious and social reformer, Rajnarayan Basu. Between 1880 and 1884, while his brothers were

studying at Manchester Grammar School, Drewett coached Aurobindo in Latin and his wife coached him in French, Geography and Arithmetic, until he joined St. Paul's School. On his return to India in 1893, he joined service in the Princely State of Baroda (Vadodara). During his work in Baroda, he started working as a part-time French teacher at Baroda College. He devoted himself to cultural and literary activities.

Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

"True knowledge is not attained by thinking. It is what you are, it is what you become".

-Sri Aurobindo

His unique contribution to human potential and growth, developed through his integration of Western and Eastern cultures. He brought the energy and vision of the West, with its focus on the perfection of the physical, material and mental areas of human life together with the spiritual development and philosophical directions developed over thousands of years in the East. His life began with political, poetic and philosophical experiences.

He said that the truth of spiritualism, science and religion were already contained in the Vedas. The Gita contains vedic values, which is essential for the elevation of human life.

He has been considered as one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th century, but he was far more than just a philosopher. The great philosophy of Sri Aurobindo can be summed up in one phrase i.e. "Realisation of the sublime truth, which can be achieved through the integral view of life".

According to him, "The divine truth is greater than any religion or creed or scripture or idea or philosophy". His philosophy is based on integralism. It is the synthesis of idealism, realism, pragmatism and spiritualism. According to him, yoga transforms mankind, life and body to superman. Wholesome or an integral development is possible through the practice of yoga. Usually, transformation takes place on the supramental stage, where diverse elements get transferred and then integrated. It changes the nature of man and leads to divine power and divine perfection.

He also believed that there is Brahma in everybody, there is an innate power inside the man and education would enable man to discover the same. Since, both matter and spirit are necessary

for the welfare of mankind, education should help in bringing about a balanced development in both.

He argues that man is born as an ignorant, divided, conflicted being a product of the original in conscience (i.e. unconsciousness) inherent in matter that he evolved out of. As a result, he does not know the nature of reality, including its source and purpose, his own nature, including the parts and integration of his being, what purpose he serves and what his individual and spiritual potential is, amongst others.

To overcome these limitations, man must embark on a process of self-discovery, in which he uncovers his divine nature. To that end, he undertakes a three step process, which Aurobindo calls the triple transformation.

Psychic Transfonnation With the psychic transformation, he sees the oneness and unity of creation and the harmony of all opposites, experienced in life. Spiritual Transformation As a result of making the psychic change, his mind expands and he experience knowledge not through the hard churning of thought, but through light, intuition and revelation of knowledge, culminating in supramental perception.

Supramental Transfonnation After making the psychic and spiritual change, he makes the supramental and most radical change. It is basically a complete transformation of the mind, the heart, the emotions and the physical body. He considered mind as the sixth sense and asserted that "the first business of the educationist is to develop in the child, the right use of the six senses, to see that they are not stunted or injured by disuse, but trained by the child himself under the teacher's direction to that perfect accuracy and keen subtleness of which they are capable".

According to him, "Mind must be perfectly trained to the highest possible limit, otherwise the education of the child will remain incomplete and one sided", He wanted to reform our mind first before reforming the world. Education cannot be a machine-made fabric. It should aim at building the powers of the mind.

He recognised three minds as

•

the individual mind

•

the mind of a nation

•

he universal mind

He wanted the teacher to understand the human mind at all the stages of development i.e. infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

He recognises two qualities of mind and they are

•

Well disciplined or well structured mind.

•

Individualised or well textured mind.

A person whose mind has these two qualities, is a complete and integrated man. That person can observe accurately and discriminatively, to think clearly and to criticise judiciously and to remain well informed.

Important publications on education and allied subjects of Aurobindo are

•

The Mind of Light

•

The Human Cycle

•

Ideal of Human Unity

•

Life Divine

•

Riddle of This World

•

The Savitri

•

Essay on the Gita

•

The Secret of the Vedas

•

Upanishads

Features of Aurobindo's Philosophy

•

Everyone has something divine in himself. The task is to find it, develop it and use it. This divine can be obtained by a spiritual discipline, called Yoga.

•

Aurobindo's concept of yoga is not that of a sanyasi, who moves away from life in order to move towards God.

•

Yoga is for the ordinary man, while he carries on his worldly pursuits.

•

If a merchant wishes to follow yoga, he regards his work as divine, he does not use unfair practises to earn money.

•

If a student looks for higher values, he must observe Brahmacharya (self-control).

•

According to him, complete surrender of man to God, creates a superman, who transcends his own nature by rising above the qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Such a man attains union with God in body, mind and soul and becomes a Jnani.

•

He feels the presence of the divine in every centre of his consciousness. All beings are to him and his own selves.

•

When a man attains union with God, in body, mind and soul, the divine power descends on him and this helps him to fulfil his cosmic purpose and divine energy radiates from him into the world.

•

An integral view of life culminates in synthetic yoga, which Aurobindo defines as "A methodised effort towards self-perfection by the expression of the potentialities talent in the being".

•

He envisages a world, in which life and mind work harmoniously and achieve the truth by transformation and transmutation of them in the light of the highest.

•

According to Au robin do, the main instrument of thought is mind, which has immense and diverse powers.

•

He considered the mind as having four layers, which he defined as chitta, manas, intellect and institution.

(i)

The first layer or chitta is that of passive memory. It is a storehouse of memories or past impressions.

(ii)

The second layer of the mind is called the manas (or the proper mind). This receives the images coming from the five senses (touch, smell, taste, sight and sound) and transforms those images into thought perceptions.

(iii)

The Intellect of Buddhi is the third layer, where the elements of the knowledge are arranged and rearranged. The intellect has comprehensive, creative, synthetic and analytical faculties.

(iv)

The fourth layer of the mind is intuition, which brings man to those brilliant messages from the unknown, which are the beginning of his higher knowledge.

Integral Education

According to Sri Aurobindo, "It is one which helps to bring out to full advantage, makes ready for the full purpose of life and scope of all that is in the individual man, which at the same time helps him to enter into his right relation with life, mind and soul of the people to which he belongs and with the great total life, mind, soul of humanity of which he himself is a unit and his people or nation, a separate and yet inseparable member".

It will recognise the individual not as a vague combination of matter (body) and spirit, but a personality having four distinct aspects, i.e. physical, vital, mental and psychic. An ideal system of education must open up avenues for the best possible development of each of these faculties of the student.

Two fold basis of integrated education are

•

Individuality is one whole.

•

Humanity is one.

Individuality is One Whole

It includes:

Harmonious Development of Three Dimensions of Individuality Body, mind and soul have their significance when they are harmoniously developed as they constitute the whole individuality.

According to Sri Aurobindo, "There should be a balanced and harmonious development of all the aspects of human personality i.e. cognitive (knowledge), conative (skills) and affective (attitude and values). Thus, an individual becomes an integrated individual",

Social Economico-Politico Integration Sri Aurobindo said that "India has always seen man as an individual soul, a portion of the divinity enwrapped in mind and body".

Different Aspects of the Self, but Self is One Man is the conscious manifestation of the universal spirit.

No Concentration on Academic Perfection Alone The study of mind is fundamental in education. Any system of education, which concentrates on academic perfection of the child with disregard to his mind is destined to fail.

Humanity is One

Sri Aurobindo immersed himself in Vedanta and Yoga. Instead of seeing conflict or find inconsistencies between the East and the West, he evolved a synthesis of both. He also synthesised spirit and matter, science and Vedanta.

Stages or Phases of Integral Education

Education to be complete must have five principle aspects relating to five principal activities of the human being, which are discussed below

Physical Education

It means education of the body. The body is the pedestal of our terrestial existence. The body is the means, the expression of life, mind and soul. The physical is our base and even the highest spiritual values to be effective on the Earth must express themselves through the life Our body which is the dwelling place of consciouness should be beautiful as well as strong enough to receive spiritual energy for it's perfection. Sri Aurobindo further said that "Even a highest and completest education of the mind is not enough without the education of the body".

All education of the body must be rigorous, detailed and methodical. The physical education to be effective must be based upon a minimum knowledge of the human body its structure and its functions. In physical education, the basic qualities to be evolved should be courage, certitude, vision and strength not fear, doubt, stupidity or weakness.

Vital Education

According to Sri Aurobindo, where there is life in plant and animal or man there is life force and without the vital can be not life in matter and no living action. He says that the vital is the life nature made up of desires, sensations, feelings, passions, energies of action, will of desires, reaction of the desire soul in man and of all that play of possessive and other related instincts, anger, fear, greed, lust, etc. However, the vital is taken as the seat of impulses and desires for acting and reacting upon one another. One has to begin his education with the primary sources of the

sensations because vital is the storehouse of life energy of will power. The building of character and the training of the aesthetic beings are two parts of vital education. The vital education of the child should begin as early as possible indeed as soon as he is able to use his senses in order to avoid bad habits and to eliminate many harmful influences. Various competitions in constructive creative activities should be organised to use the the vital energy properly.

Moral Education

Moral education is an important component of vital education. It is essential for an individual to lead a harmonious life in society. Sri Aurobindo declared that few principles are required for effective moral training.

Firstly, moral training is to suggest and invite not command or impose and the best method of suggestion is by personal experience.

Secondly, good company i.e. reading books, attending study circle for live discussions about the ideals of the great souls.

Thirdly, if one does wish to be respected by his child, he should have respect for himself and be and every moment worthy of respect. Even telling lies, losing temper and displaying other weaknesses are bad examples for the child.

Fourthly, one must not scold a child except with a definite purpose and only when it is felt quite indispensable.

Lastly, one should not allow any fear to slip in between he and his child otherwise it will give birth to pretence and falsehood. Moral education is the best instrument for the formation of character.

Mental Education

Man is primarily a mental being, so the education of human beings should centre around the education of his mind. According to Sri Aurobirdo, the mind is the through driven chariot of the soul. Mental education is a process of training the mind of the student to arrive at such a central conception around which the widest and the complex and subtle ideas can be assimilated and integrated. Besides, the mind has many faculties and possibilities. Those need a special education so that they can express the light. Thus, the aim of mental education is to develop the various possibilities and faculties of the mind to receive the light for the perfection of the mind.

Psychic Education

Psychic education is the most essential aspect. It is because the physic inspiration alone is true. All that comes from the vital and the mind is necessarily mixed with egoism and is arbitrary. Psychic education leads towards the discovery of psychic being. Its purpose is to bring psychic being to the forefront so that it can act upon the mind, vital and body, purifying thought, perception, emotion,

sensation, action and everything else in the human being and preparing them to be divine movements. In this context, the aim of psychic education is to manifest and develop in the outer being new capacities, which actually are not in one's present outer.

Psychic education is a life long process and it must be the point of all education. All spontaneous turning to love, truth, beauty, knowledge, nobility and heroism is a sure sign of the psychic influence. To recognise their reactions on the pupils to encourage them wisely would be the first indispensable step towards psychic education.

Spiritual Education

Man is an evolving soul and all life is a growth of the soul from darkness to light. Education is that light which removes the darkness of ignorance. Spiritual education aims at the growth of consciousness and to bring down the higher consciousness into the lower. It is solely concerned with the inner-awakening and realisation of the self and helps a person to become a perfect instrument of divine manifestation.

In spiritual education, the help of a Guru is indispensable. The Guru is generally a Yogi who put his influence for the growth of a pupil. All education without the education of the spirit is incomplete. Hence, the education of the self or spiritual education is a must to achieve the highest aim of life and education. Education which can bring the total change of consciousness is spiritual education

Functions of Education

•

To bring out the real man.

•

To build the powers of the human mind and spirit i.e. the evoking of knowledge, character and culture.

•

To enable an individual to establish a clear continuity between the past, present and the future.

•

To enable the individual, to establish right relations with life.

Principles of Teaching

Au robin do suggests three principles of teaching as

•

The first principle of true teaching is that nothing can be taught. The teacher is not an instructor or taskmaster, he is a helper and guide.

•

The second principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its growth.

•

The third principle of teaching is to work from the near to the far, from the known to the unknown.

Educational Implications of Aurobindo's Philosophy

Education being the dynamic side of philosophy, every philosopher is ultimately an educator. Philosophy determines the fundamental postulates of life i.e. its meaning and aims. Education becomes an instrument of realising those aims. Aurobindo was thoroughly disgusted with the prevailing system of education, which ignored the psychology of the learner, whose mind was laboriously loaded with numerous little packets of information, carefully tied with red tape.

Aurobindo wanted a system of education which sought immensely to enlarge the field of knowledge of the student and activised his memory, judgement and creative power, i.e. which laid stress on experiment and observation and encouraged the play of thought on the subject of study, which corrected the habit of spoiling the instruments of knowledge and employed, the natural and easy instrument of mother tongue. He was idealistic to the core. His idealistic Philosophy of Life was based on Vedantic Philosophy of Upanishad.

He maintains the kind of education that we need in our country, is an education "Proper to the Indian soul and need temperament and culture that we are in quest of, not indeed something faithful merely to the past, but to the developing soul of India, to her future need, to the greatness of her coming self-creation, to her eternal spirit". Sri Aurobindo's concept of education is not only acquiring information, but the acquiring of various kinds of information

Aims of Education

According to Sri Aurobindo, "Indeed if the education is to have its maximum result, it must begin even before birth".

Sri Aurobindo emphasised that education should be in accordance with the needs of our real modern life. In other words, education should create dynamic citizens, so that they are able to meet the needs of modem complex life. According to him, "The chief aim of education should be to help the growing soul, to draw out that in itself which is best and makes it perfect for a noble use".

According to Aurobindo, physical education and holiness are the main aims of education. As such, he not only emphasised mere physical development but physical purity also, without which no spiritual development is possible. In this sense, physical development and purification are the two bases on which spiritual development is built.

Another important aim of education is to train all the senses i.e. hearing, speaking, listening, touching, smelling and testing, to achieve mental development of the child. This mental development means the enhancement of all mental faculties.

The development of morality is also an important aim of education. Sri Aurobindo has emphasised that without moral and emotional development, only mental development becomes harmful to human process. The heart of a child should be developed in such a way that it shows

extreme love, sympathy and consideration for all living beings. This is real moral development. The human race is composed of people and nations and a nation is composed of individuals. The nation makes universal humanity.

Methods of Teaching

Nothing can be Taught It means that the pupil has to acquire new knowledge by his own attempt and the teacher is to work as a helper or guide to the pupil. The pupil is allowed to study by his own capacity and interest.

Self-Pacing Learning According to the method of teaching, the teacher should not impose on the child from the above if the child is not prepared to receive the knowledge. Once the mother says that a child wants to remain ignorant, we may explain to him the consequences or remain ignorant but we should not pressurise the child for learn. The child should be allowed to learn, according to his interest.

Teaching from Near to Far This means that the child should be led from near to for. That is all education should be built upon the day to day experience of the learners.

Role of Teacher

The teacher is the king pin in the educational machinery. No system improves and rises without the teacher. Actually, teacher does not trains the pupil's mind, but shows him, how to perfect his instruments of knowledge and helps him and encourages him in the process. Aurobindo laid great stress on the intuitive power, he considered that a teacher as ideal or liberal encourged the development of this power by eliminating the add mixture of error, caprice and biased fancifulness and allowing the child to grow into the way of his own perfection. The teacher is only a guide and not an imposter.

The individual is a self-developing soul. The duty of the parents and the teacher is to enable the child to educate himself, to develop his own practical, intellectual, moral and aesthetical capacities and to grow independe organic being as an

Curriculum Transaction

Aurobindo describes curriculum for following different stages of education Different stages of Education

Different Stages of Education Pnmary Stago Secondary Stage University Stage Vocational Stage I I I I Ł Es Natural History -Art Civilisation -Scriptural General Science -Chemistry ·English Literature -Drawing Social Studies -Cottage.Industries National History

•Physiology Health Education -Psychology -Botany Primary Stage Secondary Stage University Stage Vocational Stage 1 Subject taught Subject taught Subject taught Subject taught Mother Tongue Mother Tongue Indian and Art English English -Engineering Western Philosophy Painting Literature Literature History of Photography Natural History Art Civilisation Scriptural General Science Chemistry English Literature Drawing Social Studies Physiology Psychology Cottage Industries National History Health Botany Engineering Education

Instead of shallowness and superficiality in many subjects, he wants an intensive knowledge in a few subjects. He wanted the study of Indian History and culture to be an essential ingredient of the curriculum. He assumes that every child has a sense of History. He prescribed the free environment for the child to develop, all his latent faculties to the maximum and suggested all those subjects and activities should possess elements of creativity and educational expression. He wished to infuse a new life and spirit into each subject and activity, through which the development of super humans can become possible.

He laid down the following principles for curriculum

•

Curriculum should be interesting.

•

It should include those subjects, which promotes mental and spiritual development.

•

It should motivate children towards the attainment of knowledge of whole world.

•

It should be certain, creativity of life and constructive capacities.

Discipline

Purification of the mental and moral habits should be the basis of discipline. This means to discriminate between right and wrong impressions and to absorb right ones in the mind. Children should be provided with a free environment, so that they are able to gain more and more knowledge by their own efforts. Aurobindo propagated the concept of self-discipline, which was the cure of impressionistic discipline. The goal aimed by Aurobindo was not merely the liberation of the individual from the chain that letters him and realisation of the self, but to workout the will of the divine in the world, to effect a spiritual transformation and to bring down the divine nature and a divine life into the mental, vital and physical nature and life of humanity.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

He was born on 11th May, 1985 in Andhra Pradesh. His father was an official in the revenue department. In the early years, he underwent through the training and educational, befiting a budding world teacher.

He developed an independent perspective both about the nature of inquiry and about his role in the pursuit of the good society. He rejected the view that the teaching is something that has to be first studied and then translated into action. lnfact, he spent his entire life talking about education as being the agent not only of inner-renewal, but also of social change. Krishnamurti's perspective on education says that education should be towards the fullest development of the human being.

Major points of Krishnamurti's education are

•

Educating the whole person (all parts of the person).

•

Educating the person as a whole (not as an assemblage of parts).

•

Educating the person within a whole (as a part of society, humanity, nature, etc.) from which it is not meaningful to extract that person.

So, it can be said that education is not about preparation for only a part of life (like work) but is about preparation for the whole of life and the deepest aspect of living.

Aims of Education

According to Jiddu Krishnamurti, the aim of education should be to understand the life and constant searching of the mystery of life. The materialistic achievements can only be a source and not the aim of life, so the role of education should not be making people materialistic.

•

Education does not mean only acquiring the knowledge of subjects, but to develop a complete and responsible human being. By complete education, he means love and compassion which transforms the present situation in its totality.

•

Education should help to discover lasting values so that we do not merely cling to formulas or repeat slogans, it should help us to break down our national and social barriers, instead of emphasising them for they breed antagonism between human beings.

•

The aim of education should not be to produce mere scholars, technicians and job hunters but to integrate men and women who are free of fear, for only between such human beings can there be enduring peace.

•

Education should not encourage the individual to conform to society or to be negatively harmonious with it, but help him to discover the true values which come from unbiased investigation and self-awareness.

•

He further said that education should be a life transforming process.

Role of a Teacher

The teacher himself should be a properly integrated human being. According to him, the teacher has to be careful, thoughtful and affectionate in the creation of the right environment for the

development of understanding to enable the child to deal intelligently with human problems. In order to achieve all this, education needs to understand itself. In order to deal with children, a great deal of patience and understanding are needed. For a teacher, teaching was not a technique but a way of life. He further said that education is a dual responsibility of parents and teachers.

Curriculum

•

Curriculum should develop working efficiency.

•

Development of curriculum should encourage patriotism in students.

•

Curriculum should give the knowledge to find the solution of problems.

•

Curriculum should encourage the interest for research and development in students.

•

Curriculum should develop the self expression ability in the students.

•

Curriculum should encourage national integrity and hannony in the students.

•

Curriculum should raise curiosity in the students.

•

Teachers should use interactive resources for methods, while transacting curriculum.

•

Curriculum should be able to develop, praise and aesthetic opinion in students.

Further, Jiddu Krishnamurti said that "The highest function of education is to bring about an integrated individual who is capable of dealing with life as a whole". Education, according to him, was a transformation of the human mind and creation of a new culture. Education must free the mind and spirit of children.

Education should encourage self-observation and experiencing of life as a whole not 'me' and 'mine' but to go above and beyond to discover the real. That's why education should be concerned with the immediate response to immediate challenges. The function of education is to help each pupil to discover inner-psychological resources and develop his own individual strengths, as well as to realise his weaknesses, without imposing upon him the teacher's notion of what he should be.

Paulo Freire

He was a famous philosopher and educationist of Brazil. He was born on 19 September, 1921 in a middle class family. In March, 1934, his father died, due to which he had to face financial difficulties. In 1934, he took admission in University of Recife and studied Philosophy and Language psychology. He worked as an educationalist, refonmer and consultant. By joining the Labour Party in the city of Freire Sao Paulo (1980-1988), he worked as an adult supervisor in a literacy project and had an adult literacy mission. In 1988, he was appointed as educational secretary in Sao Paulo. He made his special contribution in education and delivered education to

the general public. He died on 2 May, 1997 due to a heart attack in Sao Paulo. He was the most significant educational thinker of the 20th century. His most famous educational texts were the 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Cultural Action for Freedom'. He made a considerable impact on the development of educational practises, informal education and in adult educational programmes.

Aim of Education

According to Freire, the aim of education is to break the culture of silence among the oppressed and conscientize them in order to make them fully human. Freire believed that the goal of education should be freedom to speak, think and act in an authentic way. His educational thoughts were based on developing a dialectical perception of reality. His contribution analyses how to be with the people so that they can develop their way of thinking.

Educational Philosophy of Paulo Freire

According to Freire, education should not only deposit information for future use only. It should open minds to higher stages of consciousness. His concern with conscientisation was an important element of the learning process.

The developing consciousness is understood to have the power to transform reality. Paulo Freire was concerned with praxis. Praxis involves analysis, discussion and action to change the situation. It creates a new situation for true learning. Dialogue is a cooperative activity. It can be seen as enhancing community and social welfare. It helps us in leading for justice and human flourishing. According to Freire, children should be aware about the abilities of their learning

Children should learn by interacting with the environment. Through the dialectical process, means asking questions, problem-posing, interacting with each other the child will learn better.

According to Freire, in the class, the teacher should divide the students into a small group. Questions should be asked to that group. By doing this, the students get a chance to interact with each other and are able to discover new ideas. Freire believed that this education pedagogy was a democratic approach to learning. Freire argues that the education process cannot be neutral.

It could be an instrument of domination or liberation. Education process domesticates the people where there exists a dominant culture of silence. Freire believed that education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction. Freire wants us to think in terms of teacher­student and student-teacher i.e., a teacher who learns and a learner who teaches, as the basic roles of classroom's participation.

Teachers must recognize that ''Their fundamental objective is to fight alongside the people for the recovery of the people's stolen humanity not to win the people over to their side". Paulo Freire's views on Education Philosophy came from classical, modern and anti-colonialist thinkers.

According to Freire, "Education is the cultural action for freedom. Education as practice of freedom opposed as the practice of domination. Liberating education consists in acts of cognition. Education is a knowing process rather than memorising process".

According to Freire, concept of education maintains the following attitudes and practises

•

The teacher teaches and the students are taught.

•

The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing.

•

The teacher thinks and the students are thought about.

•

The teacher talks and the students listen meekly.

•

The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined.

•

The teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply.

•

The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher.

•

The teacher chooses the program content and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it.

•

The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students.

•

The teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects.

His theory of education is closely linked with issues, such as oppression and struggle with social relations that centre around ideology and material domination. Freire maintained that from reflection by the oppressed on the oppression will come engagement in the struggle for liberation. For this struggle and liberation pedagogy will be made and remade.

According to Freire, education is the cultural action for freedom, an act of knowing and not the act of memorization. He also said that education is the practice of liberation because it frees the educator from slavery of silence.

Major Works

•

Pedagogy of the oppressed,

•

Cultural actions for freedom.

•

Education for consciousness

•

Pedagogy process.

•

The politics of education in culture, power and literacy.

•

Pedagogy of liberation.

•

Pedagogy of freedom.

•

Pedagogy of the city.

Marry Wollstonecraft

She was an English writer, modern feminist, philosopher and an advocate of female rights. She was born in London on 27th April, 1759. Throughout her life, she challenged the authority of such conferences, which are against women's rights and against any anti-women norms. Therefore, she was considered to be the forerunner of feminist movement and major figure in the Feminist Philosophy.

In the contradiction of popular social gatherings in society, she started her career as a writer. Her most famous book was "The Vindication of The Rights of Man' is a reaction to the criticism of the French Revolution by Edmund Burke of the British Parliament. She advocated against republicanism and attacked the support of logic for hereditary privileges.

In 1792, an article on women's rights was published on political and ethical subjects. Their work enhanced the argument that women should be given equal rights with respect to men. She continued her effort to honour and empower women throughout her life. On 10th September, 1797, she died at the age of 38. After death, her husband Godwin wrote articles on contradiction in the rights of women, in her memory which was a celebration of his wife's work. She was known as a groundbreaking thinker and forerunner of the modern racist movement.

Wollstonecraft's Views on Education

According to her, education is an essential element for the people of the society. During her short career, she wrote novels and books in which she gave special emphasis on the education of children, youth and women. For this, she believed that 'The Vindication of The Rights of Women' is most important. In this book, she argued that women are naturally weaker than men on an intellectual basis. Thus, to overcome this, we need to give proper education to women as well. In the 1700s, girl's education was limited but by the end of the 19th century various schools came into force, in which emphasis was on the art, drawing and basic skills.

She gave special emphasis on girl's education and established short-term schools for women. Apart from this. emphasis was also given on the child's emerging confidence, discipline, honesty and social satisfaction. She believed that with the motivation of leaning, to read with logic, education is important and helpful for a person's development. Therefore, if we promote education among the women in the society than will have great grandmothers and wives who can contribute positively, to the development of nation

In this way, she described the need for education as important in the context of men and women. Simultaneously, she also talked about the parliamentary representation of women like men. Hence, she paved the way for the education of women, which is focused on encouraging women in society.

Major Works

•

Thought of the Education of Daughters (1787)

•

Marie and Fiction (1788)

•

Vindication of the Rights of the Women (1792)

•

Marry and Marie (1791)

Nel Noddings

Nel Noddings is America's best known philosopher and educationist. She was born on 13th January, 1929 in the United States. She received a bachelor's degree from Montclair State College in New Jersey and completed Phd in Education from Stanford Graduate School of Education. She worked for 17 years in primary school and High School where she taught Mathematics.

She was a professor and dean of Stanford University and after retirement, joined Columbia University. She developed some of the important roles of educational development and worked for the upliftment of education,

Educational Philosophy of Nel Noddings

Nel Noddings (1929) has made a significant contribution to our appreciation of education. In particular, her explorations of the ethics of care and their relationship to schooling, welfare and to learning and teaching within families and local communities came at an especially opposite moment. She has been able to demonstrate the significance of caring and relationship both as an educational goal and as a fundamental aspect of education. As a result, Nel Noddings' work has become a key reference point for those wanting to reaffirm the ethical and moral foundations of teaching, schooling and education more broadly.

She defines education as "A constellation of encounters, both planned and unplanned, that promote growth through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, understanding and appreciation with punishment or humiliation".

In the field of moral education, it is Nel Noddings who has consistently critiqued the prevalence of character education and moral instruction in schools, and instead proposed her theory in caring, a feminine approach to ethics and moral education, the challenge to care in schools and educating moral people, a caring alternative to character education.

For Noddings, moral education has been of great importance throughout her work on care ethics, which she has developed over three decades. She feels any debate on practical ethics will have to naturally include the educational aspect. Moreover, education is a community wide enterprise and not a task exclusively reserved for home, church, or school (2013: 171) and therefore has to be understood in a broader perspective.

Nel Noddings has argued that education from the care perspective has four key components i.e. modelling, dialogue, practice and confirmation. Modelling is the first component, which highlights the centrality of exemplary action for the student to learn from live examples. Instead of merely teaching through direct instruction about the importance of caring behaviour, Noddings argues

that it is much more effective to teach through exemplary action. Embodying care in our engagement with student can inspire them to cultivate caring habits in their own behaviour.

The second and the most fundamental component of care ethics education, according to Noddings is dialogue, where she draws the Freierian Model of Dialogue as open-ended. In this understanding of dialogue, the teacher and student are not teleologically moving towards a set goal of moral education but open to discovering differences in their views, even if they are ideologically opposite.

The third component of the framework is the centrality of practice in developing habits of care. Noddings argues that more than the obligation it is the practice of care which can dispose of the student to act in compassionate ways. Thus, developing caregiving activities are far more crucial rather than giving and taking reasons for the utility of care ethics. The fourth component in care ethics education is that of confirmation which implies that we need to constantly encourage the student to nurture his caring attitude even when he/she fails to do so in her relationships. In the Caring model it is through confirmation that the teacher can express disappointment as well as direct the student towards her own better side. By creating a conducive environment for practising care, the students can be constantly drawn towards ethical action rather than being disciplined. It is acknowledged that different sides of the student can surface based on its immediate surroundings. Noddings also believed that students should learn the knowledge and skills necessary to help them to navigate the world around them, while simultaneously caring for children, the elderly, the animals and the environment. She reflects on the two ways themes of care that can exist in schools. In one arena, subjects in schools to be organised around the thematic units of care. In the other arena, she says that subjects in school remain the standard modem day disciplines but incorporate themes of care throughout.

Noddings stress the importance of adapting curriculum to fit the personal interest of students and making core subjects applicable to real life situations. Students should not be forced into learning from a specific curriculum, but rather to be given the practical life skills to make well-informed choices. Noddings believed that the main aim of education should be to produce competent, caring and loveable people. Thus, it can said that her contribution is of great significance as an educator, philosopher and writer.

Major Works

•

Philosophy of Education (1965)

•

Caring, The Feminine Approach of Ethics (1984)

•

Women and Evil (1989)

•

Educating Moral Police (2002).

Savitribai Phule

She was a prominent Indian social reformer, educationist and poet who played an instrumental role in women's education and empowerment during the 19th century. Counted among few literate

women of those times, Savitribai is credited for founding the first girl's school in Pune in Bhide Wada with her husband Jyotirao Phule. She took great efforts towards educating and emancipating child, widows campaigned against child marriage and sati pratha, and advocated for widow re-marriage.

A leading figure of Maharashtra's social reform movement, she is considered an icon of Dalit Mang caste along with BR Ambedkar and Annabhau Sathe. She campaigned against untouchability and worked actively in abolishing caste and gender based discrimination.

Role in Women Education and Empowerment

The first indigenously run school for girls in Pune (at that time Poona) was started by Jyotirao and Savitribai in 1848 when the later was still in her teens. Although, they were ostracised by both family and community for this step. Savitribai became the first teacher of the school.

Later, Jyotirao and Savitribai started schools for children from the Mang and Mahar castes, who were regarded as untouchables. Three Phule schools were in operation in 1852. On November 16,1852, the British government honoured the Phule's family for their contribution in the field of education while Savitribai was named the best teacher. In 1852, she also started the Mahila Seva Mandal with the objective of creating awareness among women, regarding their rights, dignity and other social issues. She was successful in organising a barber's strike in Mumbai and Pune to oppose the prevailing custom of shaving heads of widows.

All the three schools that were run by the Phule, were closed in 1858. There were many reasons for this, including drying up of private European donations, post the Indian Rebellion of 1857, resignation of Jyotirao from the school management committee due to difference of opinion on curriculum, and withdrawal of support from the government. Undeterred by the circumstances Jyotirao and Savitribai along with Fatima Sheikh, took charge of educating people from the oppressed communities as well. Over the years, Savitribai opened 18 schools and taught children from different castes. Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh began teaching women, as well as other people from downtrodden castes.

This was not taken well by many, particularly the upper caste of Pune, who were against Dalit's education. Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh were threatened by the locals and were also harassed and humiliated socially. Cow dung, mud and stones were thrown at Savitribai when she walked towards the school. However, such atrocities could not discourage the determined Savitribai from her goal and that's why she carried two sarees. Later, Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh joined by Saguna Bai, who also eventually became a leader in the educational movement. Meanwhile, a night school was also opened by the Phule couple in 1855 for agriculturist and labourers, so that they can work in day time and can attend school at night.

To check the school dropout rate, Savitribai started the practice of giving stipends to children for attending school. She remained an inspiration for the young girls. She encouraged them to take up activities like writing and painting. One of the essay, written by a student of Savitribai called

Mukta Salve became the face of dalit feminism and literature during that period. She conducted parent-teacher meetings at regular intervals to create awareness among parents on the significance of education, so that they can send their childrens to school regularly.

In 1863, Jyotirao and Savitribai also started a care centre 'called 'Balhaty Pratibandhak Griha possibly the first ever infanticide prohibition home founded in India. It was setup, so that pregnant Brahmin widows and rape victims can deliver their children in a safe and secure place, thus Socialism preventing the killing of widows as well as reducing the rate of infanticide. In 1874, lvotirao and Savitribai, went on to adopt a child from a Brahmin widow called Kashibai, thus, sending a strong message to the progressive people of the society. The adopted son, Yashavantrao, grew up to become a doctor. While, Jyotirao advocated widow remarriage, Savitribai worked tirelessly against social evils like child marriage and Sati pratha, two of the most sensitive social issues that were gradually weakening the very existence of women. She also made efforts in bringing the child widows into mainstream by educating and empowering them and advocated for their re-marriage. Also, such pursuits met with strong resistance from the conservative upper caste society.

Her Writings and Valuable Contribution

Savitribai Phule's poems and writings are an inspiration for many and remain pioneering in the struggle against India's caste system. Together, she has put some very valuable writings

They are:

•

Kavyaphule, Collection of Poems, 1854

•

Jyotirao's Speeches, Edited by Savitribai Phule, 25th December, 1856

•

Savitribai's Letters to Jyotirao

•

Speeches of Matoshree Savitribai, 1892

•

Bavankashi Subodh Ratnakar, 1892

National Values of Constitution with Reference to Education

Education, its values and relevance, finds an important place in the Constitution of India. It provides the conception of the economic and social order for which youth of the country should be educated. Its preamble reflects the National echoes and the objectives of national policy. Every constitution has a philosophy of its own which embodies the ideals, values, hopes and aspirations of its people. So, education should find an important place in this constitution. This fact underlined the vital role of education in the national development

The values expressed in the Preamble are expressed as objectives of the Constitution. These are sovereignty, socialism, secularism, democracy, republican character of Indian state, justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, human dignity and the unity and integrity of the nation.

Socialism

The word 'Socialism' has been used in the context of economic planning. It signifies a major role in the economy. It also means commitment to attaint ideals, like removal of inequalities, provision of minimum basic necessities to all and equal pay for equal work.

Socialism is a socio-economic political doctrine which arose as a revolt against the capitalism, in Europe. Karl Marx and Lenin in Russia and Mao in China were the chief architects of socialism. Socialism aims in establishing a classless society based on the total supremacy of the state and total submission of the individual to the state.

Aims of Socialism

•

Establishing a classless society.

•

Social justice, equality and the complete supremacy of the state.

•

Abolishing the capitalist system.

•

The active participation of the individual in the productive process of the society.

•

It ignores spiritual values.

Socialism and Aims of Education

•

Development of democratic outlook.

•

Development of socialist values.

•

Development of secular values.

•

Providing equal opportunities to all, for their all round development and welfare.

•

Rapid expansion of educational facilities in all areas.

•

Developing values like dharma, dignity of labour, non-violence, unselfishness and selfless service.

Socialism and Curriculum and Methods of Teaching

•

Topics like democracy, duties of citizens, equality, freedom, rights, secularism, socialism, social reform movements, non-violence, etc, should be taught.

•

Group activities like debates, discussion, social service camps, social surveys, shramadhan, etc, to be organised

•

Inclusion of socially useful productive work as an essential component of the social curriculum, to be the key note of the curriculum.

•

Emphasise should be laid on polytechnic vocational and professional courses.

•

Introduction of information technology. It's effective use would enable students to do well in the age of modernisation.

•

Emphasis should be given to group methods, like teaching, seminars, projects, etc.

•

Self-Discovery Method should be encouraged.

Secularism

In the context of secularism in India, it is said that "India is neither religious nor irreligious nor anti­religious". It implies that there will be no 'state' religion i.e. the state will not support any particular religion out of public funds. This has two aspects i.e. every individual is free to believe in and practice, any religion he/she belongs to and state will not discriminate against any individual or group on the basis of religion

Characteristics of Secular Education

•

Moral outlook.

•

Development of wider vision.

•

Pluralistic outlook.

•

Cultural development.

•

Democratic values

•

Synthesis of spiritual and material.

•

Humanitarianism.

Education for Secularism in India

India presents an educational system that promotes secular attitude and values through its broad based aims, curriculum, enlightened teachers and appropriate activities, progressivism, rationality, freedom from bigotry and equal respect for all religion.

The following traits characterises education for secularism in India

•

Secular aims.

•

Democratic organisation of educational institutions. Multiple curriculum.

•

Science teaching.

•

Enlightened teachers.

The present Indian educational system is trying to create a social climate in the country, in which secular values are sought to be promoted effectively and enthusiastically.

Reason for Imparting Secular Education

•

It develops a moral outlook.

•

It helps in the development of liberal attitudes and values.

•

It develops a wider vision.

•

It develops an attitude of appreciation and understanding of other's point of view.

•

It develops democratic values and humanistic outlook.

•

It synthesises materialism and spiritualism.

•

It serves as an antidote to religious fanaticism and hatred.

Educational Implications

Many positive steps have been taken to promote secularism in the country. It is laid down in the constitution that religious minorities are free to establish their educational institutions from grant. Secularism is a philosophy of moral education. Secular behaviour springs in the school from the influence of school through the conduct and behaviour of teachers themselves and life in the school community as a whole. All the activities and programs of school must strive for the inculcation of values of love, truth and tolerance.

Democracy

Democracy refers both to a political system and a political aspiration. Democracy refers not only to the system of government but also to the general way of life itself. It has ethical, political, social and economic aspects. It is the form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation

Education for Democracy

For the success of democracy, it is essential that each individual owns his responsibilities, consciously and this will be possible only when the individual's power of understanding is high and he is of good character. It is the duty of the society that it should prepare an individual from intellectual, moral and physical point of view to discharge his duties of citizenship, so that the society may remain happy and rich.

The main features of education are usually sited as two folds. Firstly, to transmit the social and cultural heritage to the new generation (example, through schools). Secondly, to create a feeling of adjustment among the students, towards the environment. The school should develop all the qualities among the children which are desirable as a good citizen.

These includes:

•

Self-realisation

•

Human relationship

•

Economic efficiency

•

Civic responsibility

True education for democracy should help the people to appreciate an urgent necessity of acquiring knowledge to discriminate between facts and prejudices, to weigh and judge efficiencies, and to arrive at a conclusion.

Responsibility of Formal and Informal Agencies

A person learns the first principle of democratic life from his/her home. An individual learns the best methods for his socialisation by spending a wholesome life in his family and by gaining experiences from the social life of other persons.

We know that the school is a formal agency of education. In the school, proper arrangement can be made for the education of democracy. The people through the personal efforts and through group activities can learn the responsibilities of a future citizen. The state should ensure that there are available opportunities for universal free primary education.

The informal agencies are also helpful in developing desirable public consciousness. Education does not end with school education but it is a continuous process. The informal agencies take the responsibility of education about the rights and duties to an individual, even after their formal schooling Democracy will become successful only, if the citizens are intellectually advanced and educated. In democracy, the opinion of the people influences governmental policies.

Relationship Between Democracy and Aims of Education

Harmonious development of the individual citizen is the main aim of education in all democratic countries. In democracy, there must be a capacity to understand the social, economical and political problems in an effective way. One should think in a creative way. The education should give importance to both individual and social development

Education should develop socialism, both in thought and action of the people. According to the Secondary Education Commission (1952-53), three aims fit in democracy. Firstly, the framing of the character to fit the students to participate creatively as the citizens in the democratic social order. Secondly, the improvement of their practical and vocational efficiency, so that they can play their part in building up the economic prosperity of their country.

Curriculum and Democracy

In order to achieve democratic ideals, the curriculum should be well planned.

Role of curriculum in creating democratic ideals are as follows

•

Different activities like play, school education, Co-curricular activities, etc, should be included in curriculum

•

There should be an ample scope for individual freedom and it should be flexible in nature.

•

While selecting a course, intelligence, capabilities and necessities of individuals must be considered.

•

It should give importance to local needs.

•

Importance should be given to efficient utilisation of leisure time.

•

Vocational needs should also be considered, while framing the curriculum

Role of School in Democracy

Every school is established in the society, for the welfare of the people. In democracy, the school should propagate democratic ideals.

Some important democratic ideals of schools are

•

The school should make the students capable of living in democracy.

•

Steps should be taken to develop secularism and religious neutrality.

•

Teachers should have freedom to select their own methods and textbooks.

•

Democratic feelings should be given to the teachers.

•

Creating a desirable environment for developing friendship among teachers, principals and inspections.

•

Cooperation, sympathy, love, etc, should be given special emphasis.

Teacher and Democracy

In a democratic society, the teachers should be given high status to bring desirable changes in the society and this will lead towards the progress of the society. They should have adequate training and must have the competency of developing the feelings of democracy, among the children. They should be able to understand the potentialities of each child. He should have the ability to provide education for good citizenship and must be a man of high character.

Teaching Methods and Democracy

The method of teaching can influence the developing democratic setup in every nation.

The teaching methods must follow the given facts

•

They must be flexible.

•

They must be based on dynamism and progressivism.

•

They must be activity-centred.

•

There must be individual freedom (use methods, like Dalton's plan, project method, montessori).

•

They should emphasise the intellectual and social development of the child.

Self-discipline also has importance in democracy. It should be emphasised in democracy. For this, children should be given the opportunity for self-governance. It is essential to remember that democracy, whether in school or society, can be only successful when it's members have a proper approach towards it.

We can conclude by quoting the words of Alexander Meikeljohn, who says that "The art of democracy is the art of thinking independently, together",

Justice

It is the concept of basic rights. It holds an important position in the life of an individual and society. It is basically centered on the good relations between the people and the state.

It is divided into following three sections

Social Justice It means the place of equality in society. It assures everyone to get a proper place in the society and to overcome difficulties.

Economical Justice It assures that everyone has the right to property.

Political Justice It states that anyone who attained the age of 18 and is the citizen of India, should have the power to Vote.

If there is educational inequality in schools, it demonstrates Liberty as a case of social justice. This inequality prevails everywhere in the world. Social justice in education prevails bright and deserving students to reach their potential because the wealthy are not so bright, students take over and leave them behind using their resources. Schools can promote social justice by giving social justice education to their teachers and changing their educational policy by practicing social justice principles.

Equality

'Equality of educational opportunity' has assumed different connotations. It can be taken as the application of the principle of distributive justice in respect of the good of education. At the primary level, it means provision of free, compulsory education of an adequate duration and content to all without any discrimination, at the secondary level. It implies provision of diversified curricula to suit the differing needs and interests of individuals, at the higher education level, it can only mean provision of opportunities, to all those who have the required ability to profit from such education and make proper social contribution in return. expansion of educational facilities during

Despite the large scale of the six decades after independence, glaring inequalities still remain in the education of the poor and the rich, of the SCs STs and other backward classes on the one hand and the forward groups on the other, and between boys and girls. While the goal of universal education is far from being reached, beneficiaries of expansion at the secondary and higher levels have been mostly drawn from the relatively affluent sections of the society.

Universal Education

In a society like ours, where 70% of the people are illiterate, equality of educational opportunity at higher levels will have any meaning at all only if the constitutional directive of universalising education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 is effectively realised. As you know, the staggering rate of dropout leading to huge wastage of educational resources and expenditure has foiled national efforts in this direction

In order to reduce this wastage and to fulfil the target of universalising education, several programmes have been launched in recent years. This includes giving priority to primary education in the matter of allocation of financial resources, allowing for multiple entry, using the service of part-time for multiple entry, using the service of part-time and locally available non­professional teachers. wherever necessary for continuing non-formal education.

Liberty

Education gives you the tools to be able to think and learn and liberty gives you the ability to find truth. Liberty is basically freedom from restraint. However, it is not the freedom to do whatever you want, being irresponsible and denying basic truths and morals.

Education is dependent on liberty because of two main reasons. First, without liberty, you will be taught what to think, instead of how to think. That is not true education, it is indoctrination. If you are taught what to think instead of how to think, then your mind is not being enlightened in understanding, you are simply being programmed like a robot, to think in a certain way.

Secondly, education is dependent on liberty because without liberty, you cannot truly learn. Education is about expanding your knowledge and abilities, and that is impossible without the liberty to search for truth. Just as education is dependent on liberty, liberty is dependent upon education. Without education, you will be confined to the realm of your limited knowledge.

Freedom

The ideas of freedom in education were an expression of the dissatisfaction of democratically minded, petit bourgeois intellectuals and some bourgeois intellectuals with the status quo in society. The anarchist educational theorists presented freedom in education as a means for restructuring society, by ensuring the comprehensive development of children's creativity and intellectual and physical powers, as well as the free, creative educational practice of the teacher.