Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, director of KK Birla Academy, addresses a national seminar in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, June 26: Sikshasandhan, in association with Eastern Zone Tagore Commemoration Committee (EZTCC), today organised a national seminar on the role of Tagore on education and society.

The seminar, named “Tagore on Education and Society”, focussed on bridging the widening chasm between the urban and rural education and obliterating “exclusivity” in the modern-day education system. The seminar underscored the need for moulding the modern education system and syllabus according to the guidelines laid down by Rabindranath Tagore.

Tagore, who is often regarded as “India’s greatest educational genius”, had constantly despised the educational system that was followed in this country. He always wanted students to go through a holistic education system that not only shaped their career, but developed their free mind as well.

Nirmalkanti Bhattacharjee, director of K.K. Birla Academy, who was one of the speakers on the occasion, said: “Tagore always wanted teachers to understand the minds of the genius and help them produce more knowledge. Dissemination of knowledge was secondary for him. He encouraged borrowing of knowledge from the West, but that should never be the base of our Indian education system. But look at our modern educational framework. It is nothing but aping the West. We need to change it.”

The seminar also stressed on the need for an all-round development for the children of rural India. Apart from educating the rural children on science, arts, ethics and religion, they should also be nurtured on handicraft, co-operative society, and modern techniques of agriculture and animal husbandry, noted the seminar’s participants.

“Tagore and Gandhi’s views on education were very much on the same lines. Both of them gave importance to rural education. Only rural education can bring about integration of humanity,” said J.P. Das, renowned litterateur, while chairing the seminar.

While talking about the dissemination of Tagore’s ideas and thoughts, J.K. Nayak, the chairman of Sikshasandhan, said: “Patience is all we require now. It is only through words and proper education we can reduce Naxalism in the state. However, one should not confuse Tagore’s idea with communism, it is simple universalism.”

Also present in the conference were Gaganendra Dash, Khageswar Mohapatra, D.P. Pattanayak, Ananta Mohapatra, Subrat Chakraborty, Sagarika Ray, and Dinanath Pathy. All of them emphasised on the need for inclusive education.