Education and Its Influence on the Nation-Building Process: A Reflection on Ambedkar’s Views in Colonial India

Abstract

The perspective of looking at certain stalwarts of the Indian Freedom Struggle revolves around their acts which shaped times they lived in. These acts were widely considered as reactions to the prevailing discrepancies in the country’s social, political, economic and religious life. Consequently, the philosophical basis behind such action could not be elaborately and extensively articulated or analysed and thus, what ensued was a crude description of personalities. So seemed to be the case of Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891–1956) who was recognized as a social reformer and political leader with a vision of social, political and economic inclusion of the Depressed Classes (Dalits) in mainstream society. But his ability to question the structures of society and religion which had come from consciousness developed out of education, remained neglected in academia for a long time. After significant recent work became available regarding views on education, he was accepted as an ‘educator’. However, the influence of his educational philosophy in the nation-building process needs to be further explored since he opposed the dominant nationalist discourse.