Currently, India courses through the 75th year of independence. Another 25 more years – it is the centenary of independence. These subsequent 25 years will decisively be consequential for the future of India. Relying on a knowledge-based vibrant economy, India aims to actualize the well-being of all living things in the world. The National Education Policy announced last year is a rational guideline to achieve this goal. Also, this year’s budget proposals by the Union Finance Minister are in the veridical line of envisioning a self-reliant India that our forefathers once dreamt of.
Babasaheb Ambedkar is generally described as the cardinal architect of the constitution and as a frontline social reformer. His reflections on education and the allied activities have not been adequately discussed. His political and socio-economic thinking were molded by his aspiration for a brighter future-India. The premise of his educational thinking was both his student and teacher life experiences. After enduring an agonizing student life at home and abroad, he began his public life as a teacher. He started his career as a lecturer in economics at a private college in Mumbai. Later, in 1928, he was appointed as a professor at the Govt. Law college, Mumbai, and went on to become the principal of this prestigious college in time.
His dicey and insecure life struggles as a student from the lower strata of the then Indian society tailored Ambedkar’s later student-friendly approaches as a teacher and streamlined his educational notions. Seldom do we find Ambedkar’s direct documentation on his educational thoughts or views. But his visions are perceptibly visible in many of his articles, speeches, and discussions in the constitutional assembly.
Ambedkar’s submission on “Primary Education in Mumbai,” when he was a member of the Mumbai Legislative Assembly in 1920, is still tangibly relevant today. He equally reiterated the importance of imparting knowledge as well as eternally improving the ethics of the individual. He was a scholarly sage who precisely recognized that education is the primal basis of the nation’s all-round development while also being instrumental in each individual’s upliftment. Addressing students of Siddhartha College, Mumbai, Ambedkar voiced, “Education should evolve your mind, broaden your perspective, and cultivate reasoning and problem-solving skills.” He presumed that students should own up a great role in resolving the predicaments of the country and in rebuilding the nation. He envisioned an educational approach that would invite and involve all in the ensuing social change and economic advancement.
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He wanted every Indian to have a sturdy sense of patriotism, despite the resilient and inherent differences. He was an exemplary student, imitable teacher, flawless jurist, stellar legislator, classic socialite, and nonpareil social reformer. Shri. VN Gadgil makes a special mention of a speech by Ambedkar, delivered at a critical juncture, where he importuned to implant national interests ahead of all other conflicting causes. Ambedkar asserted, “Sir, I have got not the slightest doubt in my mind as to the future evolution and the ultimate shape of the social, political, and economic structure of this great country. I know, today, we are divided politically, socially, and economically. We are a group of warring camps, and I may even go to the extent of confessing that I am probably one of the leaders of such a camp. But sir, with all this, I am quite convinced that given time and circumstances, nothing in the world will prevent this country from becoming one.” Ambedkar firmly held the conviction that when any policy or law is brought, it should primarily envisage the unity and integrity of this country.
In 1927, he studied and presented a comprehensive account of the inequalities in the primary, secondary, and higher education domains in the Mumbai Province. He fittingly explained the futility of the otherwise beautiful concept of treating everyone equally. He, therefore, demanded that there should be unequal approaches in unequal places. He cleverly substituted the idea of equal law with the more compact concept of equal justice. Even today, we hang around the very notions of scholarships and reservations for the economically and socially backward students and are stuck up in thinking beyond the ordinary and cliched presumptions.
Besides the routine financial support, accommodation, and academic facilities, Ambedkar stressed the emergency to create a conducive social environment for the consonant upliftment of the backward classes. On a closer survey, it reveals that the special education domains tendered by the new education policy are an expression of this futuristic standpoint of Ambedkar. Our experience over the last two decades teaches us that providing free textbooks, clothing, and food will boost gross rate of enrolment and cut down dropouts. But these plans are inadequate if Ambedkar’s idea of proper and complete enhancement is to be achieved. It is in this context that the new education policy strides two steps further. Emphasis is placed on basic literacy (writing, reading, mathematics) at the primary level and vocational skills at the subsequent level. Policymakers and rulers who swear allegiance to the dignity of labour never allowed our traditional occupations and the knowledge inherent to them to enter the vicinity of education. They forefronted the urban community’s aspirations and schemed the programmes accordingly. Other than a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a teacher, a clerk, and allied professionals, whom does our education conceive? The sculptor, carpenter, mason, and skilled tribes are excluded from the design. Think of the prodigious artists in gold, other metals, and diamonds, farmers, merchants, artisans, weavers, musicians, cooks, and tailors. They make up 70% of our workforce. They account for more than 30% of our domestic revenue, 40% of exports, and 45% of production. But most of them are not the beneficiaries of today’s education scheme. Most of the trade wizards are either dropouts or those from the marginalized sections. It is in this context the new education policy envisages the inclusion of traditional occupations and their know-how in the educational process. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Computer Literacy are ideated as the essential components of everyday skills. When it happens, knowledge will transmit confidence. Then Knowledge will slowly transform into a powerful weapon. Knowledge finally will metamorphose as the means of liberation from exploitation. Ambedkar did adopt this concept of knowledge from Lord Buddha. The underpinnings of the new education policy became the central guideline for accomplishing Ambedkar’s vision of social transformation.
One of the most pragmatic modes of education is evinced in the multiple entry-exit systems proposed by the education policy. This audacious idea winningly weaves together the conflicting concepts of continuity of education as well as the forced pauses in the process. This revolutionary proposal will illimitably help the socially and economically disadvantaged sections, especially girls, who have to drop out of higher education halfway.
Ambedkar’s educational thinking was, therefore, not merely a minimal matter of theoretical debate. It was a meeting ground for the modern formal education system and the traditional ethical and skill-based education model. This vision is a fusion of consensual thought and pragmatic praxis. Its ideal extension is what we witness throughout the new education policy.
Vinod karuvarakundu is Director, Madhava Ganita Kendram.
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