Session Information
99 ERC SES 05 D, Histories of Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The popular narratives in the history of education in India regard the educational initiatives and experiments (popularly called ‘Nai Talim’/ ‘Basic Education’) of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 – 1948) as the original, indigenous, and radical alternative to the colonial education which was ‘imposed’ by the British on Indian masses (Rao 2020, pp. 43-44). This educational experiment became significant during the anti-colonial sentiments of the early twentieth century, as the curriculum was designed deliberately along nationalist lines. Since the ‘manual work’ has been the significant basis of Gandhi’s Nai Talim, the apparent similarity between John Dewey’s philosophy of education and Gandhi’s educational thoughts has been explored by many educationists (Sadgopal 2019, Kumar 2008, Link 1962). However, during the nationalist movement, in the first half of the twentieth century, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891 – 1956) also started several educational initiatives of his own, which are lesser known compared to Gandhi’s experiment. Ambedkar is known for advocating the basic human rights of the oppressed in Indian society, which constituted women, Dalits (ex-untouchables), and backward castes. He was also a student of Dewey at Columbia University and hence was under the direct influence of Dewey’s educational thoughts and philosophy. Despite being closely associated with Dewey during his formal years, there is no exploration of the domestication of Dewey’s educational ideas in the educational thoughts and initiatives of Ambedkar in India. This paper focuses on this strand of transnational connection. Further, the paper also compares the extent of influence of Dewey’s philosophy of education on the educational thoughts of Gandhi and Ambedkar, two important Indian actors who shaped and influenced the educational landscape in colonial and postcolonial India.
The Deweyan conceptual and theoretical framework of democracy and education will be used in the exploration of these questions. This framework is significant because of the diverse nature of Indian society with traditional inequalities along the different axes such as caste, gender, class, religion, and ethnicity, and also the history of systematic discrimination against these marginalised groups in the area of education. This context is similar to the historical context of a diverse society due to industrialisation and migration, in which Dewey developed his philosophy of education.
Method
The study is historical in nature and hence follows the historical research method. The primary sources consist of the complete volume of works on education by Gandhi, Ambedkar, and Dewey. Gandhi’s educational experiments and ideas took shape in his newspapers, especially Harijan and Young India. These newspapers also form significant primary sources. The regional language writings of Gandhi and Ambedkar are also consulted. The texts are read and analysed in the critical-historical method. The secondary sources are also analysed for their different hermeneutical approach to these primary texts. The analysis also focuses on several historiographical themes like radical rupture/continuity in the ideas and the transnational process of circulation and appropriation of ideas and pedagogical projects and experiments. The domestication of circulated knowledge appropriate to the context, lets us explore the hybrid nature of local and global education initiatives and different forms of democracies (Herren, Ruesch & Sibille, 2012).
Expected Outcomes
The link between the Deweyan ideas of democracy and education and how these ideas take shape in the educational ideas of Gandhi and Ambedkar is explored. The external historical context of colonialism and the internal context of traditional societal inequalities and the influence of these contexts on Gandhi and Ambedkar is bought to light. This paper finds the possibilities of any further coherence in the educational philosophy of Dewey and Gandhi apart from the obvious surface similarities like focus on the manual work, and basic needs of community living are few. Because there is a fundamental and significant difference between Gandhi’s and Dewey’s assumptions about the nature of democratic society, social order, and the education of marginalised groups. The Gandhian experiment is not based on the scientific rationality that Deweyan philosophy upholds, rather prides itself on religious morality. However, the educational thoughts of Ambedkar and his initiatives carry the intellectual legacy of Dewey’s ideas of democracy as a way of life and pragmatist philosophy (Stroud 2022). Ambedkar, despite belonging to the untouchable caste of Mahars and facing indignity in schools, did not believe in segregated schools for Dalits but rather found an educational institution that was inclusive of all castes, even among the teaching and administration but focused mainly on the education of Dalits, as they faced historical discrimination in the area of education. Hence the paper argues that despite surface similarities, the Deweyan influence and legacy on the educational landscape in India are carried on by the educational initiatives of Ambedkar rather than Gandhi.
References
Aldrich, R. (2006). Lessons from History of Education: The selected works of Richard Aldrich. Routledge. Ambedkar, B. R. (2020). Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches Volume No.: 1-17 (3rd ed.). Dr. Ambedkar Foundation. Biesta, G. J. J., & Burbules, N. C. (2003). Pragmatism and Educational Research. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. Dewey, J. (2004). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. Aakar Books. Dewey, J. (2008). The School and Society. Aakar Books. Gandhi, M. K. (1962). The Problem of Education. Navajivan Publishing House. Gandhi, M. K. (1953). Towards New Education. Navajivan Publishing House. Herren, M., Ruesch, M., & Sibille, C. (2012). Transcultural History: Theories, Methods, Sources. Springer. Jangam, C. (2017). Dalits and the Making of Modern India. Oxford University Press. Jenkins, L. D. (2014). A College of One’s Own: An International Perspective on the Value of Historically Dalit Colleges. In Rao, P. V. (Ed.). (2014). New Perspectives in the History of Indian Education. Orient Blackswan. Kshirsagar, R. K. (n.d.). Dalit Movement in India and its Leaders (1857-1956). M. D Publications Pvt Ltd. Kumar, K. (2005). Political Agenda of Education: A Study of Colonialist and Nationalist Ideas. SAGE Publications. Link, E. P. (1962). John Dewey and Mohandas K. Gandhi as Educational Thinkers. Comparative Education Review, 5(3), 212–216. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1187088 Mayhew, K. C & Edwards, A. C. (1936). The Dewey School: The Laboratory School of The University of Chicago, 1896 – 1903. D. Appleton – Century Company. Paik, S. (2014). Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India: Double Discrimination. Routledge. Rao, P. V. (Ed.). (2014). New Perspectives in the History of Indian Education. Orient Blackswan. Rao, P. V. (2020). Imperial Roots of Nationalist Education Model in India 1880-1947. In Caruso, M. & Maul, D. (Ed.). (2020). Decolonization(s) and Education: New Polities and New Men. Peter Lang. Sadgopal, A. (2019). Nai Taleem: Gandhi’s Challenge to Hegemony. Social Scientist, 47(5/6), 9–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26786185 Stroud, S. R. (2022). Recovering the Story of Pragmatism in India: Bhimrao Ambedkar, John Dewey, and the Origins of Navayana Pragmatism. Pluralist, 17(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.5406/19446489.17.1.02. Varkey, C. J. (1940). The Wardha Scheme of Education: An Exposition and Examination. Oxford University Press. Zelliot, E. (1992). From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement. Manohar Publications. Zelliot, E. (2014). Dalit Initiatives in Education, 1880-1992. In Rao, P. V. (Ed.). (2014). New Perspectives in the History of Indian Education. Orient Blackswan.
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