RELEVANCE OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA IN THE 21ST CENTURY WITH REFERENCE TO HIS THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION.

Dr.Chinmoy Kumar Ghosh , Director, Distance Education , IGNOU

Introduction

Swami Vivekananda had never taught in a school, college or a university but he was a teacher par excellence. It is said that, A poor teacher tells, an average teacher explains, a good teacher demonstrates, a great teacher inspires. Swami Vivekananda was a great teacher and also a great educationist. There has been umpteen number of researches of very high quality on his thoughts on education.  Erudite scholars and thinkers across the globe have expressed their views on Swamiji’s concept of Education.  Here we shall make an assessment of the relevance of his thoughts in the 21^st Century.

Learning – the treasure within

The cardinal definition of ‘Education’ given by him was, “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man”.⁽¹⁾Let us compare  his views with the theme of the UNESCO Commission for Nature of Education in the 21^st Century held in Paris in 1996. The topic of deliberation was Learning – the treasure within. It was aimed at giving a direction to the nature of education during the 21^st Century in the entire globe.  The very topic of the seminar is an echo of the voice of Swami Vivekananda as reflected through the cardinal definition stated above.

The Commission called for a paradigm shift in Education from teacher-centricity to learner- centricity.  It reposes faith of a very high degree on the learner and thereby inspires him  to be self reliant. This is very much in tune with Swamiji’s message – “You see, no one can teach anybody. The teacher spoils everything by thinking that he is teaching. Thus Vedanta says that within man is all knowledge – even in a boy it is so – and it requires only an awakening, and that much is the work of a teacher. We have to do only so much for the proper use of their hands, legs, ears, eyes, etc. and finally everything will become easy”.⁽²⁾

The four pillars of learning

The UNESCO Commission recommended four pillars of learning – Learning to know, Learning to be, Learning to do and Learning to live together.⁽³⁾ We shall now analyse the relevance of Swamiji’s thoughts  on the basis of these four pillars of learning.

Learning to know

The learners of our country generally do justice to the dictum of Learning to know.  They have rich store of information, effectively much more compared to their counterparts abroad.  But they falter when it comes to applying the said knowledge in real life situations.  This is because of the fact that most of the knowledge is bookish and is accumulated from the teacher through the Chalk and Talk method. These are definitely well tested methods but application of knowledge in real life situations can happen only if it is imbibed and this is possible through practical experience or what is known as experiential learning.  According to Swamiji – “We may talk and reason all our lives, but we shall not understand a word of truth, until we experience it ourselves.  You can not hope to make a man a surgeon by simply giving him a few books. You can not satisfy my curiosity to see a country by showing me a map; I must have actual experience…Experience is the only teacher we have”.⁽⁴⁾

Learning to be

The crux of the message Learning to be is that the learners should learn to become themselves.  Thakur Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Dev, the spiritual Guru of Swamiji used to say that we perform theft at the realm of our thoughts.  The author had been to a seminar on the topic, ‘Education for All’ where highly acclaimed scholars had come to participate.  In course of the seminar tea was being served and a young boy who age was hardly six was made to undertake that job. It clearly indicates that the deliberation at the seminar would not have served the desired purpose. We need to orient ourselves to learn to be.  This also gets vividly revealed through Swamiji’s concept of emancipation of women – “Educate your women first and leave them to themselves; then they will tell you what reforms are necessary for them”.⁽⁵⁾ He was very much against men taking decision on behalf of women.  He felt that they should be given proper education so as to make them competent enough to think for themselves.

Learning to do

Education must be able to help a learner develop his mental faculty.  He should be able to think in a healthy manner.  He should develop the spirit of inquiry. Swamiji said – “The present system of educating is all wrong.  The mind is crammed with facts before it knows how to think”.⁽⁶⁾Perhaps we have belied the expectations  of  Swamiji by encouraging rote learning. The learners do acquire answering skills but they fail to develop questioning skills.  This is possible only when we do proper justice to the pillar, learning to do. The author had been to a school where the mathematics teacher of Standard III students was taking a revision lesson on “Measurement of length by metric system” and according to him the students had learned everything about the topic.  They answered with exactitude when they were asked to tell the conversion factors between a kilometre and a metre or between a metre and a centimetre, but they could not reply to questions like – “How far is your home from your school”? or “What is length of your classroom?”  or “How many centimetres is my pen?” It was observed further that the students do not have the idea about how much is a ‘metre’. The teacher has not given them the desired exposure regarding the issue. This episode is a reflection on the lack of attitude among the learners as well as the teachers towards applying the acquired knowledge in practical situations. It shows that we need to orient ourselves to learn to do.

Learning to live together

Nothing perhaps can be more contextual with reference to our country than the fourth pillar, that is Learning to live together. It is rooted in the spirit of tolerance, deeply impregnated in the traditions of our country. Here we have the IIMs, the IITs, research institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore or the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai which give us international pride. But on the other hand we have elementary schools where water will squeeze through the roof during the monsoon. We thrive along with these extreme ends of inequity. It calls for increasing the outreach of education and drawing proper strategy for educating the masses. Swamiji had said – “The great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes of our downfall. No amount of politics would be of any avail until the masses in India are once more well educated, well fed and well cared for”.⁽⁷⁾He also went to the extent of saying that, ”If the mountain does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him”.⁽⁸⁾Swamiji’s message inspires us to think about a scheme like, ‘Each one teach one’. It is indeed the duty of everyone of us who have received education and have occupied some place in the society to help uplift the downtrodden to the mainstream of education. Everyone may not be suitable for usual curriculum based education imparted at schools and colleges, they need to be channelized to vocational areas which would help them in earning their livelihood.

Conclusion

We had considered the recommendations of the UNESCO Commission as the basis of the nature of Education in India in the 21^st Century. We picked up examples to establish that Swamiji’s thoughts come alive with every recommendation of the Commission. Those are so very relevant even today. The congruency of the recommendations can not only be seen in his sayings but also through his actions. The article is being concluded by summarizing the remarkable points of similarity between his thoughts and the concerns of UNESCO as under –

• Knowledge is inherent in man.
• Experiential learning be stressed upon.
• We have to learn to be ourselves.
• Education of women is essential for all round development of the nation.
• We need departure from rote learning.
• Our learners need to develop the skills of questioning.
• Enough scopes be created for the learners to make theory and practice meet.
• Everybody has right to education.
• Increase of outreach of education is essential for educating the masses.
• Initiative should come from the educated to spread the light of learning for those who have got deprived of the same.

References

1. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata (Henceforth CW), Vol-4, P-558
2. CW. 5.366
3. www.unesco.org/delors/fourpil.htm, accessed on 7th March, 2013.
4. CW.1.185
5. CW.6.115
6. CW.8.280
7. CW.5.222
8. CW.4.363