DAILY SUARGAM | JAMMU EDIT-OPINION MONDAY | JUNE 14, 2021 6 EDITORIAL 100-YEAR JOURNEY~I SANJUKTA DASGUPTA ophy, medieval mysticism, Significantly, the recent clubbed together as joint ven- can education have a holistic ration through the arts have Islamic culture, Zoroastrian emphasis on skill develop- tures primarily discourage objective that recognizes the been rejected in favour of a VDC issue Ahundred years ago, in philosophy, Bengali literature ment, entrepreneurship, critical thinking and freedom multiple intersections of race, pedagogy of force-feeding 1921, Rabindranath Tagore and history, Hindustani liter- start-ups, eliding the need for of configuring ideas and class, colour, caste, creed, reli- for standardized national founded Visva Bharati ature, Vedic and Classical engagement in humanities interfere with creative free- gion, gender and sexuality education.” In a more direct University at Santiniketan, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and social sciences that dom. So, in unequivocal that can construct a complete awareness campaign regard- It is sad and strange that Village Bolpur, in undivided Bengal. Chinese, Tibetan, Persian, enable breaking free from terms, Nussbaum observes, human being rather than an ing the absolute necessity of Visva Bharati is often regard- Arabic, German, Latin and shibboleths and stereotypes, “Thirsty for national profit, automaton? The Universal literature studies as an essen- Defence Committees (VDC) members ed as the first international Hindi formed its areas of may not have found favour nations and their systems of Declaration of Human tial component of education, university in modern India. study and research. Vidya- with Tagore who abhorred education, are heedlessly dis- Rights, 1948 had clearly out- Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak have been denied their honorarium Initially, the poet himself was Bhavana was the manifesta- bondage of any sort, includ- carding skills that are needed lined the targets of holistic refers to Gramsci’s essay the donor, fund-raiser and tion of the ideal of the pro- ing mind-control, as manifest to keep democracies alive. If education by stating, “University without for last four years which were consti- ombudsman of this unique posed centre of comprehen- for example in his plays this trend continues, nations “Education shall be directed Conditions”, and thereafter tuted through a due process of law in institution where visiting sive studies in the cultures of Raktakarabi (The Red all over the world will soon to the full development of the refers to the therapeutic bene- scholars from many parts of the East and the West. The Oleanders), Tasher Desh be producing generations of human personality and to the fits of education and the com- 1996. Since their formation the VDC the world worked as lectur- centre was viewed principal- (The Land of Cards) and useful machines, rather than strengthening of respect for paratist’s skills of critiquing ers, instructors, researchers ly as a community of schol- Muktadhara(The Waterfall), complete citizens, who can human rights and funda- perspectives and contexts. performed heroic deeds and and performers. At that time ars, Indian as well as foreign, Interestingly, in the 21st cen- think for themselves, criticize mental freedoms. It shall pro- She refers to the concepts of Visva Bharati perhaps was who would be engaged in tury, the publication of two tradition, and understand the mote understanding, toler- world literature configured remained key factor in elimination of the only university that ran creation and dissemination of books strongly advocating significance of another per- ance and friendship among by both Goethe and Marx, courses in fine arts and per- systematized and philan- the need for liberal arts and son’s sufferings and achieve- all nations, racial or religious though their horizons were terrorism from hilly reaches of forming arts. thropic reasoning. humanities studies as essen- ments.” groups.” limited to Europe, rather than This year, 2021, marks the The concern was epistemo- tial curriculum in university Nussbaum’s caveat about Tagore’s educational goals including epistemological Jammu region since then along with centenary of Tagore’s dream logical”. Also, the 1929 courses, was a crusading call. fragmented education with for school students and uni- and empirical representa- members of security forces. The VDC project of setting up a univer- tions in literature, beyond sity at Bolpur, with the pri- Europe. members did a yeoman's job during mary objective of emphasiz- In her Introduction to An ing the supreme importance Aesthetic Education In the Era over last 20 years and many of their of holistic learning. In his of Globalization Spivak stated inimitable way, the poet characteristically, “A disinter- members laid down their lives in translated his fond dream ested episteme can allow and into reality. As far as I know, withstand the interruption of fighting terrorism especially from no other poet has ever set up the ethical. Study humanism, erstwhile Doda district. It will not be a university which was large- said Gramsci, in somewhat ly self-funded. Tagore per- the same spirit as some of us an aggregation to state that VDC ceived that aid from the say deep language learning establishment, at that time, and literary textuality train the were main force to dealt a blow to ter- the British raj, would lead to ethical reflex.” Spivak further interventions of all sorts, elaborates the essential need rorists active in this hilly belt. But from administrative to politi- for rootedness in ethics and cal. A lot of water has flown aesthetics represented in liter- unfortunately instead of giving credit down Bolpur’s river Khowai ary texts that span the elite in the last ten decades. and the subalterns, explores to them for rendering their services to Intellectual discourse has and exposes the multiple nation they have been totally neglect- swayed between timeless divides that separates human Tagore and dated Tagore. civilizations, cultures and peo- ed and ignored by Government While many regard Tagore ple. From the excerpts above, as a messiah of universal the emphases of Nussbaum which not only denied them honorar- humanism, there are also and Spivak regarding the cru- those who feel threatened by cial need for incorporating ium of last four years but also has his advocacy of a fearless humanities and social sciences mind, free knowledge with- courses, as complementary taken decision for their disengage- out boundaries and complete texts and contexts would ment giving a hard blow to them and creative freedom. Though immediately link itself to well- Tagore would have agreed known educationists such as discrediting their services. However that knowledge is power, he prospectus of Visva Bharati Both the internationally the objective of economic versity students were a phe- Rousseau, Nunn, Pestalozzi, would have been vocal university stated, “College acclaimed thinkers, writers gain, is what more than a cen- nomenal game changer. John Dewey, Maria it is hoped that the LG administration against controlled knowl- students are expected to and public intellectuals tury ago tagore had repeated- Sadly, however, despite such Montessori and their much edge disseminated by repres- become familiar with the Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak ly warned about in his progressive formulations discussed and sometimes and Union Home Ministry will rise sive regulatory bodies for working of existing institu- and Martha Nussbaum numerous essays on the sub- about generating an educa- implemented discourse on the consolidating profit as power tions and new movements referred to the educational ject. However, the poet did tion free from indoctrination objectives of chainless educa- the occasion and take appropriate and use of pedagogical plati- inaugurated in the different transformations that Tagore not just sensitize people and the physical claustropho- tion. tudes for enforcing mindless countries of the world for the introduced and referred to about the destructive objec- bia created by classrooms, They highlighted that the decision in providing justice to hap- surrender of creative and crit- amelioration of the social his fictional narratives as tives of fixed syllabi that tables, benches, chalks and relationship between the texts less VDCs in J&K. The Government ical thinking. The inclusive condition of the masses. They illustrative texts. In her book encouraged rote learning. dusters, Tagore’s roadmap, and their recipients should motto of the Visva Bharati are also required to under- Not For Profit: Why Tagore painstakingly raised so clearly outlined, was con- not be coercive, but should should fully recognise their services University was this Vedic take a study of international Democracy Needs the funds for his dream project, sidered impractical by gov- entice a willing suspension of statement ~ “Yatra visvam organizations so that their Humanities, Nussbaum stat- setting up a unique model ernment-funded educational disbelief, thereby activating a and reward them accordingly. It may bhavatyekanidam” (where outlook may become better ed that a crisis was silently school and a university sys- institutions both in colonial complete state of meditative the world makes a home in a adjusted to the needs of and steadily enveloping the tem that attracted attention of India and post-independence immersion in the style and not be out of place to mention here single nest). On 23 December peace”. In the era of global- institutionalized knowledge intellectuals and creative India. Tagore’s path-breaking content of the literary text. 1921, Visva-Bharati became a ization, in 2021, how many of systems of the world. thinkers of the world. emphases on “critical think- Tagore regarded the tradition- that VDCs who gave a precious peri- registered public body which our universities have includ- Describing this silent crisis as Tagore’s school system Patha ing and empathetic imagin- al institutionalized formal adopted a constitution of its ed in their prospectus such a carcinogenic, she stated that Bhavan and eventually the ing” was ignored and instead education of his times as od of their life to the service of the own.