Question

Rabindranath Tagore felt that children ought to be subjected to strict discipline. State whether true or false

Answer 1

Answer: The given statement is false. Rabindranath Tagore did not appreciate imposing strict discipline on children.

• Santiniketan was started in 1901 by Rabindranath Tagore.
• Tagore hated going to schools in his childhood days.
• Rabindranath Tagore found the schools oppressive and suffocating.
• Rabindranath Tagore felt school was like a prison as he could never never do anything that he liked.
• Hence, Rabindranath Tagore’s mind would start wandering while other students listened to the teacher.
• Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas of education were shaped by the experience of his school days in Calcutta.
• Rabindranath Tagore wanted to establish a school where a child could explore desires, thoughts, be creative, free and it should be a place where the child was happy.
• Rabindranath Tagore felt a child should have opportunities for self-learning, outside the schooling system set up by British which had a system of restricting discipline and which was very rigid.
• Rabindranath Tagore felt children should be allowed to develop curiosity, and teachers should be able to understand children and be imaginative.
• As per Tagore, the system of British schools killed the natural sense of wonder, creativity and natural desire of a child.
• Tagore had the opinion that only within a natural environment, creative learning could be encouraged.
• Hence, Rabindranath Tagore, established his school in a rural setting which was 100 Kilometres away from Calcutta.
• Along with dance, music and art; Tagore emphasised the importance of teaching Science and Technology.
• Tagore saw that Santiniketan was an abode where natural creativity could be cultivated by children and live in harmony with nature.