1

Chapter 6
The Educative Proposal of Rabindranath Tagore

1. Life

Along with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore is considered one of the greatest
personalities of the twentieth century India. He was born in Calcutta, May 6, 1861, into a wealthy
family and in a cosmopolitan atmosphere open to the Western culture and its influence. 1 He was the
fourteenth child of his parents. His grandfather Dwarkanath was involved in educational
institutions, in supporting medical facilities, fought for religious and social reforms. His father
Debendranath was a religious and social reformer, and founded an association known as the
Tattvabodhini Sabha that had as scope to discuss socio-religious matters and also to hold prayer
meetings. In 1828, he together with the members of his association merged into the Brāhmo Samāj,
a monotheistic and iconoclastic reform movement which was founded by Ram Mohan Roy in
1828.2 Soon he became the recognized leader of this new movement of neo-Hinduism. The young
Rabindranath was greatly influenced by the universalistic and humanistic ideals of the Brāhmo
Samāj and had a lasting impact on his future thought.

Rabindranath disliked school discipline and the various forms of restrictions imposed on his
freedom.3 Hence he had to be withdrawn from the school that he had started to frequent. He left the
institutionalized type of school learning at fourteen and at home under the guidance of private tutors
he learned English, Sanskrit and Bengali (his native language); he loved to read novels of Keats and
Shelley,4 lyrics of Bengal Vaiṣṇavas, the classical literature of Kalidasa and poems in Bengali. He
also had lessons from professionals in music, drawing and wrestling.

1
Rabindranath’s thirteen brothers and sisters were mathematicians, journalists, novelists, musicians, artists. His cousins,
who shared the family mansion, were leaders in theatre, science and a new art movement.
2
The Brāhmo Samāj Movement started by Ram Mohan was a reform movement within Hinduism that propagated and
promoted monotheism, fought against and tried to eliminate caste system, untouchability and sati, to abolish child
marriage and uphold widow’s remarriage, etc. Rabindranath’s grandfather supported Ram Mohan Roy in his attempts at
reforming Hindu society. Dwarkanath’s son, Devendranath Tagore, also became a staunch supporter of the Brāhmo
Samāj movement. In order to encourage its spread, in 1863 he established a meditation centre and guest house on some
land about 100 miles from Calcutta at a place called ‘Santiniketan’, the Abode of Peace; cfr. Narmadeshwar Jha,
Rabidranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), in “Prospects” ( the quarterly review of education), vol. XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, pp.
603 - 619, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, Paris; in
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/tagoree.PDF; (visited 15.11.2012).
3
“When I was once inside these walls, I did not feel natural. It was absolutely a fragment torn away from life and this
gave me intense misery because I was uprooted from my own world and sent to surroundings which were dead and
unsympathetic, disharmonious and monotonously dull. It could not be possible for the mind of a child to be able to
receive anything in those cheerless surroundings, in the environment of dead routine. And the teachers were like living
gramophones, repeating the same lessons day by day in a most dull manner. My mind refused to accept anything from
my teacher. With all my heart and soul I seem to have repudiated all that was put before me. And then these were some
teachers who were utterly unsympathetic and did not understand at all the sensitive soul of a young boy and tried to
punish him for the mistakes he made. Such teachers in their stupidity did not know how to teach, how to impart
education to a living mind. And because they failed, they punished their victim. And this was how I suffered for thirteen
years of my life”. (Rabindranath Tagore, My School, in http://forum.banglalibrary.org/topic397.html).
4
“Tagore was also deeply influenced by nineteenth-century English poets, perhaps above all by the English romantics
like John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose reverence for nature and ideal of the creative artist can be seen
throughout Tagore's work”; (cfr. Tagore Rabindranath, in http://www.bookrags.com/research/tagore-rabindranath-
eorl-13/); (visited 20.11.2012).
 2

In 1878 he embarked for England, to qualify himself for the Indian Civil Service or as a
lawyer. After matriculation he joined the University College, London, where he studied English
literature for eighteen months and returned to India without finishing the university studies. 5 Back
in India he continued with his personal education and his creative writing and music. In 1883, he
married the ten year old Mrinalini, who in later years gave him five children. In 1890 Tagore took
charge of the family estates in Shelidah (today in Bangladesh). There he came into direct contact
with nature on the one hand and on the other with the wretched life led by the poor peasants. He
was moved by their miserable life of poverty and decided to do something concrete for their socio-
economic welfare, which was materialized later at Santiniketan where students and teachers were
involved with literacy training and social work and the promotion of cooperative schemes. 6 He
admired their simple daily life, as well as natural beauty, and folk culture of rural Bengal.

He also came into contact with the Baūls, a group of wandering spiritual "madmen" who
rejected the outward trappings of institutional religion and instead sought the indwelling "man of
the heart," the elusive presence of the divine that dwells within every human body. The Baūls'
iconoclastic "religion of man" (manusher dharma) had a lasting influence on Tagore's spiritual
ideals.7

In 1901, with his father’s consent, he started a boarding school (Brahmacharyashram) in

Santiniketan.8 At the same time he dedicated himself intensively to literary, educational and
political activities. He retired from politics in 1906, since he did not want to be part of the
Nationalistic Movements that did not hesitate to take up to arms and the use violence in the struggle
for the independence of India.

In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his book of poetry, Gitanjali, written in Bengali
and translated into English by himself.9 In 1918 he announced the plan to transform his school into
an International University, Visva-Bharati, which was inaugurated on December 23, 1921. In 1922,
helped by Elmhirst,10 he founded Sriniketan, an institution that had as its scope rural reconstruction,
especially designed to help small farmers in the area surrounding Santiniketan. From 1919 to 1931
he travelled extensively to several countries especially of Europe, held talks and conferences that
focused on his concepts of humanism and internationalism, but primarily he sought funds for his
new university. In 1931, the University of Calcutta offered him the Chair of Bengali language and
literature. In 1940 the University of Oxford conferred on him Doctor Honoris Causa. He was
named Kobi Bisso (universal poet) for the universal dimension of his thinking, his passion for God,
humanity and nature expressed in his poems and other literary works. He aspired to and engaged
himself in the realization of global unity among peoples and cultures, across races and religions.
The best way to achieve such a goal, according to him, was through education, socio-economic
development and through his intellectual activities as a writer, poet and lecturer/teacher. Tagore
died in Calcutta 7 August 1941.

5
Cfr. Narmadeshwar Jha, Rabidranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), op. cit.
6
Cfr. Kathlyn M. O'Connell, Rabindranath Tagore on education, in The encyclopaedia of informal education, 2003; in
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tagore.htm; (visited 18.11.2012).
7
Cfr. ibid.
8
Cfr. Narmadeshwar Jha, Rabidranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), op. cit.
9
Gitanjali (Song offerings; 1913) was praised by W. B. Yeats as lyrics "expressing in thought a world I have dreamt of
all my life". These songs helped to give Tagore an international reputation and introduced Bengali literature to the
world (Yeats 1913: xiii).
10
Leonard Knight Elmhirst (1893 – 1974) was a British agriculturist who become closely associated with Rabindranath
Tagore. He worked closely with Tagore in helping the poor peasants living in the surrounding areas of Santiniketan. He
was appointed as the first president of Sriniketan.
 3

The personality of Tagore is best described in the words of his friend E. J. Thompson:
“Tagore had a kind of dual soul, torn between his love of solitude, contemplation, and art and his
commitment to social action”.11

2. Philosophical and Religious Thought

The literary output of Tagore is astonishing. It reveals the breadth and diversity of his
culture, the depth of his thought, the genius of his imagination, the transparency of expression, the
spirit of courage and creativity. Although he discusses very relevant topics and offers practical
solutions to important socio-economic, political and educational problems, he is not a systematic
thinker nor can he be considered only as a philosopher. He is best known for his theatrical works
(thirty), poems (over a thousand, some of which are true masterpieces), novels (twelve), short
stories (ten), rather than for his philosophical works (ten).

The main works in which he explains his religious, philosophical and sociological thoughts
are four: Sādhana (1913), Personality (1917), Creative Unity (1922) and The Religion of Man
(1931). He wrote amply on education and pedagogical topics. Of the 200 articles he wrote, over 120
treat themes explicitly of pedagogical character. He was also a composer of music and began
painting at the age of 68, having education as the primary goal of these activities.

To understand Tagore’s education system and practical pedagogy one needs to know his
religious and philosophical views regarding God, world and human being in particular. As a son of
the Hindu religious and philosophical tradition, he recognized that behind the diversity of our
experience there exists the Absolute One.12 Tagore, however, rejected the rigidity and superficiality
of institutionalized religions, with their dogmas, rituals, ceremonies, etc. and offered a new religious
and spiritual vision of the creative unity between God, humanity and nature, which he described as
a "religion of the artist" or of “the poet”. The Divine is not only transcendent but also immanent; He
manifests himself in the infinite forms and beauty of nature. The whole universe and every being
that exists therein are beautiful, because they are manifestations of the Divine. The Divine, by
nature, is creative and enjoys creating continuously. He dances, which for him is a game, an
amusement and in the act of dancing the whole creation comes into existence (Śiva is Nataraja).
The Divine is present in the whole creation which is an expression of his joy and love, for which
there exists internal harmony and interrelation between beings.

In this sense Tagore’s perception of the world, of nature and of man is poetical and mystical.
In fact, his refined sensitivity to beauty, creativity and art engulfs all his writings, and asserts that
reality (God, man and world) is perceived better by one’s emotions, experiences and imagination
rather than by reason. These elements are taken into consideration and given importance by Tagore
in his educative proposal; his theory of education is, in fact, marked by naturalistic and aesthetic
values.

3. Education Vision

Tagore did not write any systematic treatise that exposes and explains his ideas regarding
education. His ideas are scattered throughout his works: large number of articles, essays,
conferences, speeches to various audiences, letters to individuals, etc., but especially in his
educational experiments at Santiniketan.

11
Cfr. E. J. Thompson, Rabindranath Tagore, His Life and Work, Association Press (Y.M.C.A.), Calcutta 1921.
12
Tagore conceived God as "the creative principle of unity".
 4

He gave great importance to education and spent over 40 years of his life involved in
experimenting and offering education at Santiniketan. He believed that “every child comes with the
message that God is not yet discouraged of humanity” 13 and that “the widest road leading to the
solution of all our problems is education”,14 instead the lack of education is the main obstacle in the
way of India’s progress and at the root of all its problems. The prevailing colonial education system
was meant for few and was to serve the British Government. It was offered in English medium
making the Indian students into “British babus” (clerks for British offices). That meant that the
majority of children, most of whom lived in villages, could not receive any education. There was no
space either for freedom, or joy or creativity in that system. It was definitely unsatisfactory to
change the socio-economic and political situation of India.15

Tagore proposed an integral, holistic system of education giving emphasis on the

intellectual, physical, social, moral, economic and spiritual development of the child so as to reach
the goal of education, an integrated personality.

4. Aims of Education

Like other Hindu philosophers and theologians, Tagore believed that man’s ultimate goal is
mokşa (final liberation), which should ever be present in one’s thoughts, feelings, words and
actions, made possible through the constant practice of sādhana. For Tagore, as well as for the
other reformers of education in modern India, the ultimate aim of education is the 'realization' of the
ultimate Reality. The ultimate Reality for Tagore is the Divine, a Personal God, 16 who is Satyam
(Truth), Shivam (Goodness) and Sundaram (Beauty). The ultimate realization (mokşa) consists in
entering into communion with the divine Person, as held by the Viśistadvaita Vedānta school of
Rāmānuja and Christian theology and not ‘being identified’/‘becoming one’ with the ultimate
Reality (Brahman is ātman) as held by the Advaita Vedānta school of Śankarachārya.

For Tagore, the reality of the world with its multiplicity and diversity, and the individuality
of the soul are real, not illusions (maya). The whole creation and in particular human beings are
manifestations of the Divine. Human beings are “the revelations of the infinite in the finite". The
divine Person has an intimate relationship with man and dwells in the innermost recesses of her/his
being.

The goal of education, therefore, is to reveal the Divine in her/his life constantly and finally
reach the ultimate realization - being united with the Infinite for all eternity. An ardent follower of
the Viśistadvaita Vedānta of Rāmānuja, Tagore insisted that the best way (sādhana) to
liberation/salvation is bhakti (loving devotion to a personal God) which is also the central message
of the Bhagavad-Gita. However, seeking God in religious ceremonies and prayers but ignoring to
see His face in so many faceless women/men, especially children, is not only vain but also
hypocritical. Bhakti should lead the devotee to the practice of karma-yoga (loving service of
others). Man's mission is to donate herself/himself in joy to the loving service of others and thus
13
Cfr. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Rabindranath_Tagore; (visited 10.11.2012).
14
Cfr. Contribution of Rabindranath Tagore in Education, in
http://www.preservearticles.com/201105066344/contribution-of-rabindranath-tagore-in-education.html; (visited
15.11.2012).
15
Cfr. Narmadeshwar Jha, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), in “Prospects” (the quarterly review of education,
UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, Paris), vol. XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, pp. 603 – 619; in
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/tagoree.PDF; (visited 14.11.2012).
16
Many of his poems and songs are addressed to a personal God (Father, King, Lord, Supreme Spirit, Husband,
Brother, Lover, Friend, etc.)
 5

realize ‘unity in multiplicity’, thus cooperating with God to complete his design in creation, which
is one of the principal scopes of education.

Fleeing from the world to practice asceticism is an offense to God, according to Tagore;
instead one should embrace it and manifest its beauty in her/his life, which is another important
goal of education. Man is an indispensable partner of God, who needs her/him not only to improve
the human condition and to perfect the world, but also for His own self-revelation (manifestation of
the 'Infinite in the finite’), which is another important goal of education. For this, everyone is
equipped by the Creator with power, possibilities and talents to her/his all-round, integral
perfection/realization as human being and thus becomes a true manifestation of the ‘Infinite in the
finite’. For Tagore, education has primarily a religious purpose, which includes the all-round and
integral development of the student. "We live in God and are called to see God in creation and in
creation to see God”. Education is that which helps the child to live a harmonious existence with the
whole of creation.

He named his proposal or method of education as "education of sympathy" or "sympathetic

education". In one of his writings (My School), he states: “We may become powerful by
knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy” and he laments “…but we find that this education
of sympathy is not only systematically ignored in schools, but it is severely repressed”. In and
through education, Tagore wanted to help the child to attain her/his fullness as sympathetic (loving)
human beings, which was possible only through a method of education, based on sympathy.17

5. Education in Practice

Tagore started to put into practice his education theory by founding the boarding school for
children, the Brahmacharyashram at Santiniketan, in 1901. “I knew that I had very profound
sympathy for children, and about my knowledge of their psychology I was very certain. I felt that I
could help them more than the ordinary teachers who had the delusion to think that they had proper
training for their work”.18 The school was to be the practical realization of the goals that he had in
mind regarding education.

The admission to the school was open to all children irrespective of their caste, creed, sex or
religion. Any child could get admission and no distinctions were made neither among them nor
among their teachers. No fees were accepted from the parents of the children, all expenses were met
by Tagore himself. At the beginning there were only few children, his son being one of them. The
school was run on the pattern of teachers and pupils living together amidst natural surroundings and
willingly accepting an austere standard of living, often working with their own hands. 19 Of the five
teachers, three were Christians—two of whom were Catholics and the third was his son’s English
teacher from Seliadah.20

Tagore gave importance and took particular care of the ambient of education. “I knew that
the mind has its hunger for the ministrations of nature, mother-nature, and so I selected this spot
where the sky is unobstructed to the verge of the horizon. There the mind could have its fearless
17
Cfr. Rabindranath Tagore, My School, in http://forum.banglalibrary.org/topic397.html
18
Ibid.
19
“And there I got a few children around me and I taught them. I was their companion. I sang to them. I composed
some musical pieces, some operas and plays, and they took part in those plays. I recited to them our epics and this was
the beginning of this, school had only about five or six students at that time … The teachers shared the common life
with the boys, it was a community life. In the sports and festivals the teachers and the students fully co-operated with
each other (Rabindranath Tagore, My School, op. cit.).
20
Cfr. Narmadeshwar Jha, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), op. cit.
 6

freedom to create its own dreams and the seasons could come with all their colors and movements
and beauty into the very heart of the human dwelling”. 21 He asserted that his school was modeled
on the “forest schools of India” which was typical of the Indian system (the gurukul system) of
education. Like the forest schools he emphasized on three basic elements of Indian culture, namely
Advaita (non-duality) in the field of knowledge, friendship for all, including nature and all living
beings in the field of feeling, and fulfillment of one’s duties with the spirit of nishkāmakarma the
field of action. In his view, the forest school integrated education with sādhana (disciplining one’s
senses and one’s own life). But Tagore updated this form of school to include science and similar
modern subjects.22

His strong view was that the children should learn primarily from their own experience,
from coming into contact with others and with nature. They should be invited and left free to marvel
and enjoy the beauty of creation.23 According to Tagore, freedom was an essential aspect of every
child and she/he had to integrate this freedom in her/his development. Freedom was essential for
exploring in innate power that exists in oneself. Tagore offered utmost freedom to his school
children for her/his all-round development. “Education has learning only when it is imparted
through the path of freedom”.24 This freedom consisted also walking barefoot, playing with
mud/clay, climbing trees, jumping, running, etc. In fact, weather permitting, classes too were held
under the trees or in the open fields. Children sat on hand-woven mats under the trees and listened
to the teachers taking classes. They were given ample time and space to discover things for
themselves (plants, trees, flowers, fruits, animals, etc.), to observe them and make their own
reflections. Nature walks and excursions were part of the curriculum. Class schedules were made
flexible to allow for shifts in weather or special attention to natural phenomena, and also seasonal
festivals were created for children.25 Learning was thus made pleasurable and at the same time
individualized to the personality of the child.

Co-education was practiced in his school. “Another aspect”, says Tagore, “which is of later
growth is that the number of girls has been increasing. The co-education system is quite a new thing
in India. But it has been working perfectly. We have had no cause for complaint. And very often the
boys and girls go out together on excursions; the boys help the girls in bringing fuel and fetching
water and the girls cook the dinners for the boys and everything is managed by mutual help. That is
a great education in itself”.26

Language is the true vehicle of self-expression and man can freely express her/his thought in
her/his mother-tongue. Tagore emphasized on the importance of learning one’s mother tongue [in
the case of his children at school, Bengali] the medium of instruction for the child's education. The
use of English medium meant education for the elite, the urban upper class and the large majority of

21
Rabindranath Tagore, My School, in http://forum.banglalibrary.org/topic397.html
22
Cfr. Rabindranath Tagore, Tapovan [The Forest Schools of India] (1909), referred in Narmadeshwar Jha,
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), op. cit. (visited 15.11.2012).
23
“I allowed them to live a complete life. They had perfect freedom to do what they wished, as much liberty as was
possible for me to give them and in all their activities I tried to put before them something which would be interesting to
them. I tried to arouse their interests in all things, in nature's beauty and the surrounding villages and also in literature,
through play-acting, through listening to music in a natural manner, not through merely class teaching”. (Rabindranath
Tagore, My School, op. cit.).
24
Tagore, an Educational Philosopher, in http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/dimplemadan09-1457353-
rabindranath-tagore/ (visited 26.11.2012).
25
Cfr. Rabindranath Tagore, “A Poet’s School”, referred to by Kathlyn M. O'Connell, Rabindranath Tagore on
education, op. cit.; (visited on 10.11.2012).
26
Rabindranath Tagore, My School, op. cit.
 7

children who live villages would be kept away from getting an education, instead local language
medium opened up the school to the non-elite and economically poorer children of the villages.

Tagore gave importance to creative arts, invited the children to painting, designing, singing,
playing musical instruments, dancing,27 etc. For him the aesthetic development of senses was as
important as the intellectual – if not more so – and music, literature, art, dance and drama (theatre)
were given great prominence in the daily life of the school. He gave particular importance to the
learning and appreciation of music.28

Tagore's integral education system gave importance to physical education, with the scope of
physical development of the child, which included practice of yoga, playing games and sports for
healthy physic, personal hygiene. Tagore also insisted upon the care and formation of the senses, an
aspect that contributes not only to physical beauty of the individual but also for appreciating the
beauty of nature.29

Significant importance is to be given also in the intellectual and formal education in the
traditional sense. For him intellectual development meant the development of imagination,
curiosity, creative thinking, alertness of the mind, etc.30

Another important aspect of his education system was the involvement of the children in the
social and economic uplift of the poor peasants who were living around the school. Tagore, together
with his teachers and students got involved in social work which included in offering some basic –
formal and technical - education to the peasants. The socio-economic involvement, as part of his
education system, was born out of his conviction that service to man is service to God.31

6. International University: Visva Bharati

In 1921, with the proceeds from the prize money of the Nobel Prize he received in 1913 for
the publication of his book of poems Gitanjali, Tagore founded his university – Visva Bharati “the
communion of the world with India - with a universal vision of humanity and with the aim of
creating an international community which is intercultural and inter-religious, where everyone
(teachers, students, gurus and masters, artists, poets, scientists, saints and mystics hailing from any
caste, race, religion or country) could live and work together as one family searching for Truth,
which is the heritage of all mankind and realize “that artists in all parts of the world have created
forms of beauty, scientists discovered secrets of the universe, philosophers solved the problems of
existence, saints made the truth of the spiritual world organic in their own lives, not merely for
27
Tagore was one of the first to support and bring together different forms of Indian dance. He helped to revive folk
dances and introduced dance forms from other parts of India: Manipuri, Kathak, Kathakali dances, etc.
28
Cfr. Rabindranath Tagore, My Reminiscences, 1917; referred by Kathlyn M. O'Connell, (2003) Rabindranath Tagore
on education, op. cit.; (visited 15.11.2012).
29
Cfr. Tagore – an educational philosopher, in http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/dimplemadan09-1457353-
rabindranath-tagore/; (visited 15.11.2012)
30
Cfr. Contribution of Rabindranath Tagore in Education, in
http://www.preservearticles.com/201105066344/contribution-of-rabindranath-tagore-in-education.html; (visited
18.11.2012).
31
“Then there are other activities. We have in the neighboring villages some primitive people who need our help and we
have started some night-schools and our boys go there and teach them. Then you have the village work in connection
with our institutions and those boys who have the opportunity to study the conditions of our village life and to know
how to help them efficiently through scientific and up-to-date methods of cultivation and of fighting diseases. To impart
not merely academic information out how to live a complete life is, according to me, the purpose of education”
(Rabindranath Tagore, My School, op. cit.)
 8

some particular race to which they belonged, but for all mankind”. 32 He considered such a
university was the best means to promote international understanding, universal brotherhood and
communion between peoples of the Occident and the Orient. Tagore’s international university was
to be permeated by the religious ideals of Indian culture, especially the liberation of man from the
chains of selfishness which is the cause of all evils and to bring about a joyful and harmonious
relationship with others and with nature.

Some of the goals that Tagore had set for Visva Bharati were:
1. To study the mind of Man in its realization of different aspects of truth from diverse points
of view.
2. To bring into more intimate relation with one another through patient study and research, the
different cultures of the East on the basis of their underlying unity.
3. To approach the West from the standpoint of such a unity of the life and thought of Asia.
4. To seek to realize in a common fellowship of study the meeting of East and West and thus
ultimately to strengthen the fundamental conditions of world peace through the free
communication of ideas between the two hemispheres.

And with such ideals in view to provide at Santiniketan a centre of culture where research
into the study of the religion, literature, history, science and art of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain,
Zoroastrian, Islamic, Sikh, Christian and other civilizations may be pursued along with the culture
of the West, with that simplicity of externals which is necessary for true spiritual realization, in
amity, good-fellowship and co-operation between the thinkers and scholars of both Eastern and
Western countries, free from all antagonisms of race, nationality, creed or caste and in the name of
the One Supreme Being who is Shantam, Shivam, Advaitam.33

7. Institute of Rural Reconstruction: Sriniketan

In 1912 Rabindranath Tagore bought a large manor house with surrounding lands in Surul, 3
km from Santiniketan and there set up the Institute of Rural Reconstruction, helped by Leonard
Knight Elmhirst. In 1923 this Institute became part of the Visva Bharati and was named Sriniketan.
The goal of Sriniketan as perceived by Tagore was to bring life back to the villages and help the
poor peasants to solve their own socio-economic problems instead of solution being imposed on
them from outside. He emphasized on the importance of scientific study of the village problems
before suggesting or ushering in a solution.

With this scope in view Tagore set up a new type of school meant mainly for the children of
the neighboring villages, who would eventually put their acquired knowledge into practice for the
welfare of their communities. One such school was the Siksha-Satra, a school set up at Santiniketan
in 1924 but shifted to Sriniketan in 1927. The Loka-Siksha Samsad was another school started in
1936 for offering non-formal education. Siksha Charcha for training village school teachers was set
up in 1937. After the demise of Tagore, an Agricultural College (1963), and a Rural Research
Centre (1977), were set up in Sriniketan.34

Conclusion

32
Rabindranath Tagore, (1922, pp. 171-2), quoted in Kathlyn M. O'Connell, Rabindranath Tagore on education, op.
cit.; (visisted 24.11.2012).
33
Cfr. Kathlyn M. O'Connell, Rabindranath Tagore on education, op. cit.; (visited 24.11.2012).
34
Cfr. Sriniketan, in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriniketan; (visited 24.11. 2012).
 9

The dominant message of Tagore is to live in awareness of the divine presence in everything and
everyone, and the resulting sense of unity and solidarity among all men beyond the barriers of races
and cultures, and religions and nations. Tagore sought to realize these ideals in his life. His literary
activity, the foundation of the school and the university, his commitment in the field of education
and socio-economic organization of rural reconstruction center, etc., are concrete evidence of his
commitment to serve God and men. The educational thought of Tagore is essentially spiritualistic,
vitalistic and pragmatic, but at the same time not lacking in nuance utopian. Santiniketan and Viswa
Bharati are bright symbols of these high ideals and their message (freedom, joy, peace, fullness of
life and universal love) transcends all barriers: political, cultural and religious.

Rabindranath Tagore, by his efforts and achievements, is part of a global network of pioneering
educators, such as Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Montessori and Dewey - and in the contemporary
context, Malcolm Knowles - who have striven to create non-authoritarian learning systems
appropriate to their respective surroundings.

In conclusion I would like to quote a poem that Tagore wrote, in which he expresses his goals of
education:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Bibliography

TAGORE R., Gitanjali (Song Offerings), The India Society, London 1912.
___, Sadhana: The Realization of Life, Macmillan, London 1913.
____, Nationalism, Macmillan, London 1917.
___, Personality, Macmillan, London 1917.
___, My Reminiscences, New York: The Macmillan Company, New York 1917.
___, Creative Unity, Macmillan, London 1922.
___, Ideals of Education, in “The Visva-Bharati Quarterly”, 73 (April-July) 4.
___, The Religion of Man, Allen & Unwin, London 1931.
___, Towards Universal Man, New York: Asia Publishing House, New York 1961.
___, Our Universe. Translated by Indu Dutt, Jaico Publishing House, Bombay 1980.
____, Selected Poems. Translated by William Radice, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, Middlesex
1985.
___, My School, in http://forum.banglalibrary.org/topic397.html
 10

AA. VV., Rabindranath Tagore Pioneer in Education, J. Murray, London 1961.

___, Proceedings of Conferences. Tagore Centenary Celebration, vol. I, Education, Santiniketan,
Visva-Bharati, 1961.
DUTTA, KRISHNA & ROBINSON Andrew, Rabindranath Tagore, The Myriad-Minded Man,
Bloomsbury, London 1995.
JHA Narmadeshwar, Rabidranath Tagore (1861 – 1941), in “Prospects” ( the quarterly review of
education), vol. XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, pp. 603 - 619, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education,
Paris; in http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/tagoree.PDF
KRIPALANI K., Rabindranath Tagore. A Biography, Oxford University Press, London 1962.
O'CONNEL Joseph, Tagore's Heritage in Canada, Williamsford, ON 1989. ISBN: 0969399804 / 0-
9693998-0-4.
O’CONNELL Kathlyn M., Rabindranath Tagore: The Poet as Educator, Visva-Bharati, Calcutta
2002.
___, Rabindranath Tagore on education, in The encyclopaedia of informal education, 2003; in
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tagore.htm
SRINIKETAN, in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriniketan
TAGORE Rabindranath, Biography, in
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1913/tagore-bio.html
___, in http://www.bookrags.com/research/tagore-rabindranath-eorl-13/
___, Talk, in http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Rabindranath_Tagore
___,an Educational Philosopher, in
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/dimplemadan09-1457353-rabindranath-tagore/
___, “A Poet’s School”, in Kathlyn M. O'Connell, Rabindranath Tagore on education, in The
encyclopaedia of informal education, 2003; in http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tagore.htm
___, Contribution of Rabindranath Tagore in Education, in
http://www.preservearticles.com/201105066344/contribution-of-rabindranath-tagore-in-
education.html
THOMPSON E. J., Rabindranath Tagore, His Life and Work, Association Press (Y.M.C.A.),
Calcutta 1921.

Links
To learn more about Tagore’s educational institutions:

http://www.globalsolidarity.org/articles/nonformal.html

http://www.itihaas.com/modern/tagore-profile.html

http://www.visva.bharati.com