Hyderabad 10th May 2023: A votary of imparting education in the local language, Home Minister Amit Shah’s indelible imprint in the Nation Education Policy (NEP) that emphasises imparting education in the local language is inspired by the philosophy of Rabindranath
Tagore.
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, a
brainchild of Home Minister Shah, has taken inspiration from the thoughts of
Gurudev and given thrust on education in the mother tongue.
A voracious reader of Rabindranath’s immortal creations, Shah is a true disciple of
Rabindranath Tagore and a firm believer of Gurudev’s philosophy on various aspects
including politics. NEP has been modelled on the philosophy of Tagore essentially to
help ignite a child’s capacity of thinking & researching and explore her inner self.
Gurudev’s idea of using the mother 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.