Comparative Study of Gandhi's Vision of Education with Reference To
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KCG-Portal of Journals Continuous Issue-30 | June – July 2020 Comparative Study of Gandhi’s Vision of Education With Reference To Osho’s Vision of Education ABSTRACT In this research paper, you will find discussion on Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of education. You will also find discussion on Osho’s vision of education. And you will find comparative analysis of both visions. That is to say, in this research paper, the researcher aims to study Gandhi’s vision of education with reference to Osho’s vision of education. In this research paper, the word ‘Gandhi’ refers to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi. This paper contains 10 sections: 1) INTRODUCTION 2) PROBLEMS TO BE INVESTIGATED 3) HYPOTHESIS 4) INTRODUCTION OF OSHO 5) OSHO’S VISION OF EDUCATION 6) INTRODUCTION OF GANDHI 7) GANDHI’S VISION OF EDUCATION 8) COMPARATIVE STUDY 9) CONCLUSION WORKS CITED KEY WORDS: 1) Gandhi’s vision of education 2) Osho’s vision of education 3) Basic education/ “Bunyadi shiksha” 4) Real education 5) Enlightenment 6) Inner flowering (1) INTRODUCTION: What is education? What is the goal of education? Which teaching method is advisable? Such questions have haunted human race for ages. Number of scholars around the globe has attempted to answer these questions. Many educationists have given their theories. Many intellectuals have shared their visions. In this research paper, you will find discussion on Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of education. You will also find discussion on Osho’s vision of education. And you will find comparative analysis of both visions. That is to say, in this research paper, the researcher aims to study Gandhi’s vision of education with reference to Osho’s vision of education. Both Gandhi and Osho belong to India. Both of them lived in 20th century. 1 | P a g e KCG-Portal of Journals In this research paper, the word ‘Gandhi’ refers to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi. 2) PROBLEMS TO BE INVESTIGATED: In this research paper, following problems are to be investigated: 1) What is Osho’s vision of education? 2) What is Gandhi’s vision of education? 3) What are the similarities between the two? 4) What are the differences between the two? 5) What is the outcome? (3) HYPOTHESIS: Prior to begin the work on this research paper, following hypothesis has been formulated: “Osho’s vision of education is different in comparison to Gandhi’s vision of education.” (4) INTRODUCTION OF OSHO (1931-1990): Osho or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or Acharya Rajneesh was born in 1931 in Central India. (Pettinger, 2006, Osho) He is considered to be an extra ordinary orator and spiritual master.He post graduated with philosophy from University of Sagar, MP, India. It is believed that he got spiritual enlightenment at the age of 21. He delivered number of public lectures on spiritual giants like Buddha, Mahavir, Jesus, Krishna etc. He started a new spiritual movement. Thousands of spiritual seekers from around the globe followed him. (5) OSHO’S VISION OF EDUCATION: 1) According to Osho, education is one that liberates. Real education should lead one to enlightenment/flowering of personality. Real education should lead one to happiness & peace. Real education teaches art of life. Real education is not limited to means of livelihood, in fact, it teaches life. Real education teaches how to live life. Therefore, in Osho’s opinion, students should be taught how to meditate. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 11) 2) According to Osho, real education should bring about all-round development of students: physical, mental, material and spiritual development. Unreal education teaches just livelihood—material development. Real education teaches all-round development---including spiritual development. In his opinion, without spiritual development, a student may become corrupt and dishonest in pursuit of monetary benefits. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 4) 3) According to Osho, real education should not be based on comparison between students. Comparison is unjust. Comparison gives rise to inferiority complex in students. Comparison also gives rise to stress. Every student cannot stand first. One who fails to stand first suffers from inferiority complex. In fact, every student is unique & individual. So, we should teach students to be themselves. We should help them to be themselves. No student can be like others. According to him, real education should identify and develop the inherent potential of the students. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 4 and 10) 4) According to Osho, real education should not be based on competition. Real education should not teach ambition. Competition and ambition pave the way to stress. Real education should create a non-competitive and a non-ambitious mind. Education should not teach fever of success. Education should not lead one to rat race to succeed. Rat race leads to stress & unhappiness.(Osho, n.d. Discourse 10) 2 | P a g e KCG-Portal of Journals 5) According to Osho, education should teach greater values. In his opinion, educated person is one who has greater values. Uneducated person is one who has inferior values. A person of inferior values tries to succeed by dishonest means. In his opinion, love is the highest value. According to him, love is not for sale. An educated person is able to love selflessly. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 11) 6) According to Osho, adolescent students have so much additional energy. They don’t know what to do with this additional energy. This energy can be used for creation or destruction. In his opinion, in real education, students’ energy should be channelized in the right way. Osho recommends that there should be provision for outdoor games & dance classes in our timetable. Through games and dance performances students can channelize their additional energy. Students should not be forced to sit within four walls for six hours at a stretch. Students should be allowed to play and dance. In his opinion, those students who are allowed to play will not be destructive. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 25) 7) According to Osho, real education attempts to develop intelligence in students. Unreal education develops only memory power. In his opinion, intelligence is more important than memory. A person who has good memory power may not be intelligent. A person who has good memory power may fail in real life. Only intelligence can help students solve problems in life. On the other hand, an intelligent person may not have good memory power. But that is acceptable. In modern world, functions of memory can be done by computers. So, development of intelligence should be the focus of real education. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 26) 8) According to Osho, we should not impose discipline on our students. We should love our students. We should give them freedom. We should pray for their well-being. This love and freedom will give rise to self-discipline in students. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 4) 9) According to Osho, real education is future-oriented, whereas unreal education is past oriented. We should prepare students for future. In his opinion, we should not impose past knowledge onto the students. Past knowledge is of no use in present time. Past knowledge means outdated knowledge. We should give them updated knowledge. We should teach them the skill of life-long learning. In fact, in his opinion, education is a continuous process. Real education does not end with degree, it begins with degree. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 25) 10) According to Osho, we should not impose ideals, blind faiths, and beliefs on students. Instead, we should try to develop their thinking capacity. We should try to create scientific thinking in our students. We should encourage them to doubt. Doubt is the method of science. We should not give them readymade answers. Instead, we should give them questions. We should ask them to solve questions in their own way. Even if they commit mistake, it is pardonable. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 24) 11) According to Osho, teacher’s role is very crucial in education. According to Osho, teachers should continuously update themselves in terms of knowledge. In the age of technology, students may have more knowledge than teacher. So, teacher should be very very humble towards the students. A true teacher honestly admits his ignorance. In his opinion, a true teacher is a rebel. He doesn’t allow himself to be exploited by politicians. A true teacher is able to love his students unconditionally. A true teacher gives freedom to his students. In his opinion, a good teacher doesn’t give readymade answers, instead, he gives questions. He invites students to solve the questions. A good teacher doesn’t impose blind faith to his students. A good teacher teaches students how to doubt. (Osho, n.d. Discourse 4) 12) Osho believes in co-education. In his opinion, in co-education system, students learn how to deal with students of opposite gender. It can teach them an important lesson for life. [Note: Points given in this section are based on Osho’s Hindi discourses titled as “SHIKSHA ME KRANTI” (REVOLUTION IN EDUCATION)] 3 | P a g e KCG-Portal of Journals (6) INTRODUCTION OF GANDHI (1869-1948): Mahatma Gandhi was a prominent Indian political leader who was a leading figure in the campaign for Indian independence. He employed non-violent principles and peaceful disobedience as a means to achieve his goal. He was assassinated in 1948, shortly after achieving his life goal of Indian independence. In India, he is known as ‘Father of the Nation’. (Pettinger, 2006, Gandhi) (7) GANDHI’S VISION OF EDUCATION: 1) Free of cost mandatory education: Gandhiji was in favour of free compulsory universal primary education. In his opinion, children between age 7 to 14 should be given free education.