A true disciple of Rabindranath Tagore and a firm believer of Gurudev’s philosophy that emphasizes education in one’s mother tongue, Home Minister Amit Shah said the National Education Policy (NEP) has been modelled on that philosophy of Tagore essentially to help ignite a child’s capacity of thinking & researching and explore her inner self.
“Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore always laid great emphasis on education in one’s mother tongue. A child’s capacity for thinking and research is severely restricted if he/she cannot speak in his/her mother tongue. The New Education Policy, formulated under the guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has taken inspiration from the thoughts of Gurudev and given thrust on education in the mother tongue,” Shah said.
A voracious reader of Rabindranath’s immortal creations, the Home Minister said Gurudev’s idea of using the mother’s tongue for imparting education is exemplary across the world. Gurudev believed that glorifying foreign education and universities should not be the goal of our education system. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore put forth this new idea of education as opposed to education by rote learning.
“In Santiniketan, Tagore amalgamated the ancient Indian knowledge system with modern learning techniques. Tagore gave maximum impetus to learning in the mother tongue. He knew one could not explore his inner self without the use of his mother tongue. In the National Education Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greatly inspired by these aspects and incorporated them into the NEP,” Shah said.
Shah said the formation of Santiniketan with the Nobel Prize money was no less revolutionary in those days. Tagore introduced the spirit of India to the world. His continuous efforts were to break barriers and to make young students free from mugging up lessons, to light the lamp of knowledge inside one's spirit.
“Not the education system introduced by the Britishers and certainly not the parrot-learning methods, Kaviguru introduced an education system that could ensure the infinite evolution of human potential through Santiniketan. This is a legacy we all should cherish and feel proud of before the world. In a way, Gurudev introduced India's soul to the entire world,” he said.
Shah said he was amazed to learn how, despite being a son of a Zamindar family of Bengal, Rabindranath could express the thoughts of ideas of common people of this earth so eloquently.
Paying rich tribute to Rabindranath, Shah said Kaviguru was a global personality in true sense and contributed not just to art in India, but across various disciplines globally.
The educational experiments conducted in Santiniketan are exemplary for educationists across the globe and showcase a new vision of education for the entire world. He said that all the people associated with the field of education in India should take responsibility to strengthen the experiment of Santiniketan and put emphasis on it globally. Shah said that the university should act as an active medium for the exchange of ideas.
Shah said that Gurudev's thoughts continue to guide our nation even today. Gurudev's free thought for politics, social life, art and patriotism is unlike the kind of narrow-mindedness that we see in politics now. Shah said that Gurudev's thoughts are equally relevant and inspirational even today and his thoughts are the wealth for India and the whole world. (ends)
