VISVA BHARATI

VISVA BHARATI

Subject : Current Events

Context: Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s vision is the essence of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mission of his government for empowerment of India and the world, Prime Minister said, as he took forward his outreach to premier educational institutions.

Concept :

Visva-Bharati University

• The university was set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
• It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
• Until independence, it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.

Significance

• Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls.
• This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind.
• Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinion matched.
• So he devised a new system of learning in Visva-Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.
• At Visva-Bharati, if a course demanded by a student is not available, then the university will design a course and bring teachers for that course.
• The university would not be bothered by the consideration of whether there is a demand for the course.