TAGORE ON EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO FREEDOM OF CHILD

Dr.Suraksha Bansal, Ph.D Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, Ph.D

Former Principal
Sr.Lecturer
K.L.D.A.V. (P.G.) College
College Of Education (D.I.M.S.)
Roorkee (U.A.) India
Meerut (U.P.) India

Seashore - Rabindranath Tagore

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.

The infinite sky is motionless overhead
and the restless water is boisterous.
On the seashore of endless worlds
the children meet with shouts and dances.

They build their houses with sand

and they play with empty shells.
With withered leaves they weave their boats
and smilingly float them on the vast deep.
Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.

They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets.
Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships,
while children gather pebbles and scatter them again.
They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.

The sea surges up with laughter

and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.
Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children,
even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle.
The sea plays with children,
and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.

Tempest roams in the pathless sky,
ships get wrecked in the trackless water,
death is abroad and children play.
On the seashore of endless worlds is the
great meeting of children.

Rabindranath Tagore was an icon of Indian culture. He was a poet, philosopher, musician,
writer, and educationist. Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to became Nobel laureate
when he won Nobel Prize for his collection of poems, Gitanjali, in 1913. He was popularly called
as Gurudev and his songs were popularly known as Rabindrasangeet. Two songs from his
Rabindrasangit canon are now the national anthems of India and Bangladesh: the Jana Gana
Mana and the Amar Shonar Bangla.

Rabindra Nath in general, envisioned an education that was deeply rooted in one’s immediate
surroundings He felt that a curriculum should revolve organically around nature with classes
held in the open air under the trees to provide for a spontaneous appreciation of the fluidity of
the plant and animal kingdoms, and seasonal changes. Children sat on hand-woven mats
beneath the trees, which they were allowed to climb and run beneath between classes. Nature
walks and excursions were a part of the curriculum and students were encouraged to follow the
life cycles of insects, birds and plants. Class schedules were made flexible to allow for shifts in
the weather or special attention to natural phenomena, and seasonal festivals were created for
the children by Tagore.

His experiences at his childhood provided him with a lifelong conviction concerning the
importance of freedom in education. He realized in a profound manner the necessity for an
intimate relationship with one’s cultural and natural environment. In participating in the
cosmopolitan activities of the family, he came to reject narrowness in general, and in particular,
any form of narrowness that separated human being from human being. He saw education as a
vehicle for appreciating the richest aspects of other cultures, while maintaining one’s own
cultural specificity and uniqueness.

Acquisition of experience through freedom and joy being the essence of Tagore’s conception of
an ideal education, naturally he was entirely opposed to any form of rigid and harsh discipline.
He firmly believe that, the unrealistic curriculum and formalistic teaching methods rendered the
prevailing system of education lifeless, the heartless and even brutal, and repulsive. Harsh
discipline, Tagore pointed out, betrays a lack of insight on the part of the teacher into the
delicate the intricate mechanism of the human mind. It is especially true in dealing with
adolescence, which, being a transition period in the life of man, is marked by acute
sensitiveness and self-consciousness. The atmosphere of rigid order and strict obedience
enforces “a cruel slavery” and is “demoralizing” for children. “It exacts perfect obedience at the
cost of individual responsibly and initiative of mind.” It kills “that sprit of liberty” “the spirit of
adventure” which are essential for new experiences and fresh achievements. The suppression
of the child’s natural impulses for physical activity and emotional experience leads to “all kinds
of aberration and real wickedness”. Tagore stoutly proclaimed his utter distrust in external
imposition of order and good behavior and stated that the discipline of the army or the prison
had no place in an educational institution. Rough discipline, Tagore contented, is not only
demoralizing for children; it degrades the teacher also. The mute subjection of his pupils adds to
his autocratic propensities. Moreover, their passive, silent contempt, which he himself provokes,
hurts him secretly; and “none can discharge his duties in an atmosphere of contempt.” Tagore
had very strong words to use for teachers who are addicted to repressive methods of dealing
with children. They should better be jail-wardens or drill-sergeants, he said, rather than take the
charge of bringing up students. He criticized “the inherent love of power” and “the lust for
tyranny” of these “born tyrants” and stated emphatically that their misguided conduct “cause the
greatest mischief possible in the human world.”

Tagore believes that “compulsion is not indeed the final appeal to man, but joy is. Any joy is
everywhere; it is in the earth's green covering of grass; in the blue serenity of the sky; in the
reckless exuberance of spring; in the severe abstinence of grey winter; in the living flesh that
animates our bodily frame; in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright; in living;
in the exercise of all our powers; in the acquisition of knowledge; in fighting evils; in dying for
gains we never can share. Joy is there everywhere; it is superfluous, unnecessary; nay, it very
often contradicts the most peremptory behests of necessity. It exists to show that the bonds of
law can only be explained by love; they are like body and soul. Joy is the realization of the truth
of oneness, the oneness of our soul with the world and of the world-soul with the supreme
lover.”

Tagore’s faith in the principles of freedom and joy as the fundamental principles of life naturally
inspired him to apply them as much to the problem of discipline as to other educational
problems. The negation of freedom was, to his mind, the negation of life and growth. It obstructs
the child’s natural urge for self-expression through body and mind, which is of vital significance
for his physical and mental development.

Freedom of thought and expression, according to Tagore, is necessary for the children not only
for their intellectual development and training of character, but also for a free and happy
relationship with their teachers and other inmates of the institution, which cannot be achieved in
an atmosphere of artificial restraint and unnatural reserve.

The degree of freedom that Tagore personally allowed in these respects, either in or outside
the class or in the general life at the institution, is at times incredible. Instances are on record as
to how he freely tolerated-nay, encouraged-even impertinent utterance in his classes which
should very much annoy an average teacher. He even went to the extent of allowing his
students openly and publicly to criticize the cherished fundamental ideals of the institution and
proudly congratulating then as well as himself on their demonstration of courage and candors..
“This Santiniketan will fail” he declared on one such occasion, “if it fetters your minds or makes
you fear….Today is the day of my victory, because my students have said today freely and
bravely that I am hopelessly in the wrong. I do not admit that I am wrong, but I want you to have
the courage to say so, if that is your conviction. May Santiniketan always give you that freedom
and courage.”

Tagore’s fervent, almost passionate, advocacy of the principle of freedom should not lead to the
assumption that he was disposed to encourage unbridled license or attached little importance to
disciplinary virtues. On the contrary, his writings are interspersed with numerous utterances
upholding various ideals associated with a disciplined and well-integrated personality.
Acccording to him” The human soul is on its journey from the law to love, from discipline to
liberation, from the moral plane to the spiritual. Buddha preached the discipline of self-restraint
and moral life; it is a complete acceptance of law. But this bondage of law cannot be an end by
itself; by mastering it thoroughly we acquire the means of getting beyond it. It is going back to
Brahma, to the infinite love, which is manifesting itself through the finite forms of law.”.

“From the solemn gloom of the temple children run out to sit in the dust , God watches them and
forget the priest” - R.N.Tagore
 REFRENCES
• Mohit Chakrabarti, Rabindranath Tagore
• Dutta, Krishna & Andrew Robinson (1995) Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded
Man, London: Bloomsbury.
• Tagore, Rabindranath (1961) The Religion of Man. Boston: Beacon Press.
• Tagore, Rabindranath (1929) Ideals of Education.
• The Visva-Bharti Quarterly (April-July) p-73-74.
• Tagore, Rabindranath (1922) Creative Unity. London: Macmillan & Co.
• Tagore, Rabindranath (1917) Personality. London: Macmillan & Co.