The topic ‘Agenda for a National Education’ of Class 8 Social Science NCERT chapter 6 discusses that many Indian intellectuals from various regions had started to discuss the necessity of expanding educational opportunities before the arrival of British officials. Some Indians pushed the British to build more schools, colleges, and universities, and increase funding for education because they believed that Western education would help modernize India. Other Indians responded negatively to education from the West. Two such people were Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

In this article, we will look into the difference between Rabindranath Tagore’s and Mahatma Gandhi’s educational perspectives. It is an important topic in NCERT class 8 Social Science Chapter 6. Students can go through this article to get comprehensive notes on the topic.

English Education Has Enslaved Us

Mahatma Gandhi claimed that Western civilization developed in Indians a sense of inferiority. It crushed the Indians’ pride in their own culture and gave them the impression that it was superior. Indian students who attended these schools developed a fondness for British rule. Mahatma Gandhi aspired to provide an education that would enable Indians to regain their feeling of respect and dignity. He encouraged students to abandon their studies during the national movement to demonstrate to the British that Indians were no longer willing to be slaves.

Indians who received an English-language education were isolated from their social circles and became “strangers in their lands.” According to Mahatma Gandhi, education must encourage the growth of a person’s mind and spirit. Education did not include literacy. Other intellectuals started to envision a national education system that would be drastically different from the one established by the British as nationalist emotions grew.

Tagore’s “Abode of Peace”

In 1901, Rabindranath Tagore founded Shantiniketan. In his early years, he thought education was burdensome and suffocating. Therefore, once he grew up, he wanted to start a school where kids could be joyful, creative, free, and able to pursue their ideas and desires. He believed that infancy should be a period of self-learning, free from the harsh and constricting discipline of the British-instituted educational system. Tagore claimed that the current educational system destroyed children’s natural creativity and sense of wonder.

According to Tagore, the natural environment is the only place where creative learning can flourish. Gandhiji opposed the worship of technology and machines in Western civilization. In contrast, Tagore aimed to fuse the finest aspects of Indian heritage with those of contemporary Western civilization. In addition to art, music, and dance, he emphasized the need to teach science and technology at Shantiniketan.

Many people and intellectuals were speculating about how to design the country’s educational system. Some believed that the British system could be expanded to cover a larger range of individuals and that improvements should be made to it. Others pushed for the creation of substitute systems to educate individuals in a national culture.

Difference Between Rabindranath Tagore’s and Mahatma Gandhi’s Educational Perspectives

The following are the differences between Rabindranath Tagore’s and Mahatma Gandhi’s Educational Perspectives:

• Mahatma Gandhi believed that Indian culture was being harmed by Western education. Additionally, he believed that while Western educational concepts could modernize Indian society, they could not educate it.
• Tagore aimed to blend its positive elements with Indian customs. He wanted to advance science and technology at Shantiniketan in addition to the arts, music, and dance because he understood their importance.