The educational philosophies according to Swami Vivekananda, reflecting some of his thoughts on today,s education process.

1. Swami Vivekananda and his
thoughts on education.
Presented By- Gayatri Bihari
EME052010,
1st Semester, M.Ed.,
Central University of Kerala

2. Swami Vivekanankda
 Swami Vivekananda(1863-19020) who born as Narendranath
Datta is an Indian Philosopher and a monk.
 He is widely known for spreading vendanta and hinduism in the
whole world specially for his speech in World’s Parliament in
Religion, Chicago.
 His search of wisdom took new path after meeting his guru,
Ramkrishnan and by travelling all over india to study it.
 He has produced many valuable thoughts on Education which
are still relevant and viable today.

3. Educational thoughts of Vivekananda:
 The oft-quoted definition of education by Swamiji-‘Education is the
manifestation of the perfection already in man’.
 ‘Manifestation’ implies that something already exists and is waiting
to be expressed and ‘already in man’ refers to a human being’s
potential, which is the range of the abilities he was born with,
'perfect’ means the completion as a whole.
 So according to this definition Education is the spontaneous growth
by removing all the impediments ,awakening all the possibilities
and actualizing the highest human potential .

4. Three aspects of education:
 Three concepts – capacity, propensity and capability –
emphasize three
aspects of education,
(a)That which makes learning possible.
(b)The development of learning.
(c)Self-development or empowerment.

5. Education: what should be its significance?
 Vivekananda said “The education which does not help the common
mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which
does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and
the courage of a lion – is it worth the name?”
 Education must provide ‘life-building, man-making, character-
making assimilation of ideas to produce an integrated person.

6. Education as a process:
 As education is to serve the human in all dimensions, a
person learns till she/he lives.
 The pursuit of knowledge is a continuous and lifelong
process.
 The very essence of education is concentration of
mind, not the collecting of facts.
 Training the mind to collect itself and prevent it from
distractions.

7. Culture and education: Teacher-pupil
 Through education, a child learns a culture and his behaviour is
moulded accordingly, and he is thus guided towards his eventual
role in society. In this process, several agents – such as his
parents, peers and teachers should assist him to remove the
external and internal obstacles.
 The only true teacher is he who can immediately come down to the
level of the student, and transfer his soul to the student’s soul and
see through the student’s eyes and hear through his ears and
understand through his mind.
 The teacher/pupil relationship, based on respect and mutual trust,
is the cornerstone of the edifice of Vivekananda’s scheme of
education.

8. Character education and universal values:
 ‘The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-
making’.
 Religion as the innermost core of education
 education must in the science of spirituality, and evidently not in
dogma.
 The wholesome curriculum materials that impart culturally-
approved values to the young, are critical to character
education.

9. The Education and the Poor:
 There must be equal chance for all – or if greater for some
and for some less – the weaker should be given more
chance than the strong.
 Top priority must be given to educating the masses, to
women who moulds the future generation, the weak ,the poor
and restoring to them their lost individuality.

10. Conclusion:
 Swami Vivekananda had envisioned a society with a new type
of human being in whom knowledge, action, work and
concentration were harmoniously blended, and he proposed a
new type of education for achieving this.
 There are similarities between Vivekananda's thoughts and
actions taking place one century ago and the present concerns
of UNESCO.
 Vivekananda’s thoughts on education ought to be seriously re-
examined today.