Mahatma Phule’s thoughts about education

The thought process around education in the 19th century centred around the two ideas of ‘Knowledge is Power’ and ‘Knowledge is the gateway to overall development’

In his “satyashodhak” movement, Mahatma Phule laid emphasis on writing and spread of education. He made education available to those people in the society who were at the time denied education. Since documentation of laws and written agreements were the hallmark of the British rule, it was imperative to propagate education so as to prevent the uneducated from being exploited by the more educated. Jyotirao’s emphasis on the spread of education was driven by this very objective. Education is a means to obtain freedom from ones mental roadblock and from economic slavery. Mahatma Phule did not believe in the theory that education would automatically propagate from the educate to the uneducated masses.

The thinking amongst the poor and labourers was that education was not their cup of tea. Boys used to start working in their teens as a result of poverty, girls used to forego education due to the prevalent system of child marriage. There was a lack of schools in the villages and even if there did exist a school it was often with a single teacher who more often than not had priorities other than teaching. As a result, the common person was not getting access to good education. The educated landed jobs easily and were in great demand. The concept of “social bonding” was yet to gain acceptance in society. As a result of the above, Jyotiba Phule lay emphasis on education fr the common man.

Jyotiba Phule was aware that education alone was not enough for getting employment and hence he lay stress on skill development as well as practical education. He also lay emphasis on value-based knowledge. Seeing educated people fall prey to vices, Jyotiba Phule emphasised that education should lead to inculcating good values in a person. Jyotiba silenced the critics questioning the imparting f education to all castes with his counter “If all castes can join the army, why can they not have access to education?”. His strong view was that a caste will not be uplifted unless there is a teacher from every caste and this applied perfectly to the realities of the time. He stressed the importance of popularising education amongst the masses and advocated making primary education mandatory for all girls and boys till the age of twelve. He also favoured better perks to teachers willing to teach in the rural sectors and also argued against linking teachers salaries with the performance of their students.

Actual work

In the year 1819, the American mission started a school for Hindu girls in Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta). Here, the teachers’ pay was linked to the number of girl students they were successful in enrolling. The same mission started a similar school in Pune in 1840. Ten girls were enrolled in a school started by Scottish missionaries – only Christian girls studied here. However, eventually these schools shut shop.

In 1948, Mahatma Phule started the first Indian school run by Indians and meant for Indian girls in Bhidewada in Budhwar Peth. Gaining from this experience, Jyitiba Phule started a school in 1851 in the home of AnnasahebChiplunkar – the school which started with three girl students grew up t have 48 students. On 17th September 1851, Mahatma Phule then started a second school in Rasta Peth and a third school in the VetalPeth area. Mahatma Phule was facilitated by the government for his achievement. Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule created a new world in the field of education. In Savitribai’s message to the downtrodden was that education would lead them to being better human beings.

SatyashodhakSamaj

During his work in the field of education and writing, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule felt that the common man had to be freed from the mental slavery of the upper castes – he felt that there should be no go-between the people and God. He felt that education was not the privilege of only a few people and he had started bringing about a social transformation with his revolutionary ideas. He reformist ideas had far reaching implications.

He realised that if the people from the lower class were get their due rights and a share in the power which the upper class enjoyed, then, there was no alternative to a constructive struggle. He envisaged building an organisation for taking forward this struggle. Over 6o people attended a meeting convened by Jyotiba Phule on 14th September 1863 with a view to propagate his ideas. He made an passionate appeal to the attendees and underlined the need for an organisation to take forward his idea. The idea was debated and thus was born the ‘SatyasodhakSamaj’ – this was the first movement in Maharashtra which was for the masses and which actually reached the masses. Jyotiba Phule was unanimously chosen as the President and treasurer of this organisation while Shri NarayanraoGovindraroKandlak was chosen as its convener.

SatyasodhakSamaj – operational ideology and policies

The ideology of the SatyasodhakSamaj was to stop the exploitation of the backward castes (shudras) by the Brahmin priests, creating awareness amongst the backward cates about their human and legitimate rights and to free themselves from the mental and religious slavery imposed by Brahminical thoughts.

Policies – Anyone aspiring to become a member f the SatyasodhakSaaj had to take oath in the name of Khandoba that they would be loyal to the British government – this was documented by DhanajayKeer. In 1911, there were three ideological traits that were incorporated in a resolution of the Samaj.

1. All human beings are children of God and God is their parent.

2. Just like we do not need a go-between to talk to our parents so also we do not need a priest or a guru to connect with God.

3. Anyone who subscribes to the above could become a member.

Oath – It was mandatory for all members to take the below oath

‘All humans are children of the same God and therefore, I will treat them as by brothers and sisters. I will not look for a go-between or an agent when performing prayers or pooja and I wil advise others to follow suit. I will strive to educate my children. I will always be loyal to the rulers of the land. I take this oath in the name of God and pray that God gives me the ability to act as per this oath’

The membership of the SatyasodhakSamaj was open to all castes. To begin with, weekly meetings were held where the emphais to oppose casteism and idol worship and to promote a bond between human and God and other humans. Discussions were held around prohibition, compulsory education, promote swadeshi, opposition to priesthood, frugal marriage expenses, astrology, free people from the fear of the supernatural. In the meetings the concept of a single God was propagated.

In their initial days, the samaj had to face stiff opposition. Those who were Government servants had to face harassment at the hands of seniors, transfers as well as mental harassment.

Keer writes in his observation about the prevailing times ‘ Rammohan Roy and Jyotiraop started theor work by adopting bhahmatva and satya and they started their work. A couple of years later, Dayanand Saraswati started his work by propagating ‘aryatatva’. TO srat with all three branded idol worship as one to be abandoned.

The farmer was at the centre of the SatyasodhakSamaj. To establish communication with the farmers in their language, meetings were held in fields. A satyasodhakprasarak’s (prasarak=propagator) typical look was a ghongdi (shawl), pagoti (type of headgear), dhoti and a drum-like musical instrument called ‘daf’. They used to shed light on the issues faces by farmers from the moneylenders. Because the prasarakswre themselves farmers, they were able to establish a connect with the farmers. The satyasodhaksamaj undertook what the Brahmo Samaj and the PrarthanaSamaj could not. Their aim was to achieve the upliftment of the lower classes. The samaj was the forst organisation to start a movement for social restructuring. They opposed social slavery and demanded social justice and social reorganisation and restructuring. They also did work to stop the propogation of the Christian religion.

On 25th December 1873, the first wedding without a Brahmin priest was held with the initiative of the samaj. The expense of this wedding was very frugal and was completed with the taking of oaths. On 7th May 1874, GyanobaSasane’s wedding was held in his own house. They gave scholarships to 10 students.

People started supporting the work being done by the samaj. VyankuKalewar and Maya Karadi Lingu, rich contractors from Mumbai, started helping the samaj in the field of education. Kalewar purchased a printing press worth Rs 1200/-. Phule got many able people to help him in the social work – these included PolasaniRajannaLingu, VyankayyaAyyavaru, RamshetUravane, Dr.VishramRamajiGhole, RamchadraraoDhamanaskar, Dr.Santuji Lad, the flagbearer of India’s labour movement MeghajiLokhande, Tukaram Tayka Padwal and many others.

Dr.VishramRamajiGhloe was elected as the President and RanshetUravane as the treasurer in the second convention of the samaj. At around the same tim, donations were collected and sent to the flood victims of Ahmedabad. In order to create good workers to spread the work of the samaj, people were trained in oratory skills. Coipes of the books titled ‘Gulamgiri’ (slavery) and ‘Bhanmananchekasab’ were distributed to respected members of the society. The topic of an essay competition held by the samaj was ‘How could the situation of farming in India be improved?’. The samaj appointed people to supervise the children from the lower classes and make sure that these children did not bide their time but instead went to school. Provisions were made to grant free education in architecture colleges to non-Brahmin students. In 1867, an elocuation competition was held with the topics like ‘Is idol worship useful?’ OR ‘Is caste necessary?’. A school was started in Hadapsar with the help of the samaj. Gratitude was expressed towards Chatfield for bringing out a circular proving free education to 5% of the students from the lower classes. Also, gratitude was expressed towards newspapers helping propagate the work of the samaj. The membership of the samaj grew to 316 members. Ramchandra ManasaranGhavrenaik offered a rented space for the samaj at Rs10/- per month. ‘Balashram’ was founded to help people during the drought of 1877. The most important contribution of the movement was that it was able to the stress the importance of social equality.

Mahatma JyotiraoGovindrao Phule

Jyotirao was born as the second child of Govindrao and Chimanabai Phule on 11th April 1827. His elder brother was Rajaram. Since Jyotiraos mother died when he was a child he was looked after by a caretaker. His education gathered speed after taking admission to Pantoji’s school. During this period Jyotiba tied the knot with Savitri, the daughter of Zhagade Patil. He took education is an English missionary school. He started going to Lahuji due to his interest in physical training and exercises. At the same time, revolutionary ideas were taking shape and a rebel social reformer within him was awakened. He happened to read ‘Rights of Man’ by Thomas Pen and this changed his life taking him on a revolutionary path.

He felt the pangs of the prevailing social situation early on. He was insulted by upper castes during his friends wedding. “Why is this so?” was the question that started haunting him and he started looking for a social solution to a personal insult. He came to a conclusion that ignorance and lack of education was the cause of these issues and hence he started a school for the downtreodden people. Here he faced stiff opposition from his own home; however, he had taken the decision very conscipusly and therefore he left home but did not abandon his work. He started to increase the number of schools for girls. He mentored the first woman teacher Savitribai Phule and they together took forward the work.

He wrote the play titled ‘TrutiyaRatna’ to propagate his thoughts. Through his plays, he put forth ideas which were rebellious at thteime , for example, husband and wife having a meal together or they going to a night school together. He encouraged the working class to study by starting night schools for them. At around the same time contract killers were hited to kill him but they became his protectors. He helped promote window remarriage. Being a staunch reformer, he opened the well at his home for the untouchables. He literary works include ‘Povada’, ‘Brahmananche Kasab’ and ‘Gulamgiri’. Setting up of Satyasodhaksamaj set the social revolution ball rolling.

In Pune, Dayanand Sarawati’s precession went off well. After accepting the membership of the Pune corporation, he paid attention to solving Pune’s problems. He paid special attention towards preventing granting licenses to liquor shops. Tilak and Agarkar were felicitated. He wrote many books like ‘Satsar Part 1 and 2’ , ‘Ishara’, etc. He was awarded the title of .Mahatma; owwing to his work. However, his book ‘ SarvajanikSatyadharma’ was published after his death.

Mahatma Phule left for his heavenly abode on 28th November