Ambedkar’s Vision of Education
- Bhim Rao Ambedkar was an educational Pragmatist. His educational philosophy stresses the development of person and his environment.
- He was highly influenced by the John Dewey’s philosophy of education. He emphasized education as one of the basic need for human.
- According to him education is not only a ladder for social mobility but also opens the doors for their modernization. Ambedkar was largely concerned about the empowerment and political struggle of the depressed classes.
- He believed that education was the only mean of get rid of their mental sluggishness and satisfaction with their prevalent pathetic conditions.
- Babasaheb envisaged that education was a powerful instrument for the change of the lives of untouchables and women.
- According to him any social transformation is incomplete till we wipe out gender discrimination in the society. And this is only possible only through appropriate education and gender sensitization.
- He believed that education would enlighten the downtrodden and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
- He acclaimed that the lack of education was the foremost cause for the backwardness of underprivileged people.
- He recognized the importance of education in shaping the future. He put all his efforts to guarantee the educational without any discrimination to all the citizens of independent India.
- Ambedkar gave the slogan of Educate, Agitate and Organize. The slogan has a deep rooted meaning that can be understood as under:
Educate
- As education directly influence the human civilization, it is essential to educate each and every citizen of the country.
- Therefore the education is indispensable for the state to realize the goal of growth and sustainable development.
Agitate
- Agitate is mental uprising not physical agitation.
- According to Ambedkar an educated man, by understanding his thoughts and strategy can initiate agitating mentally.
- The agitated mind would drive educated people to form associations/organizations and eventually they would take action to fix the problems.
Organize
- Educated and agitated minds will certainly organize for a common mission.
- All of us must get ourselves educated resulting in agitating thoughts so as to collectively organize.
- The agitated minds for a universal mission would help the people to unite, strive & struggle for the common goal.