Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and His Ideas about the National Education System

Abstract

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the foremost leaders of the Indian freedom struggle. He was not a run-of-the-mill politician, but an intellectual and thinker who spent several decades writing and speaking on diverse issues, including education. His commitment to the pluralist ethos of the Indian freedom struggle is reflected in his work and career as the first minister for education, science and culture in independent India. He constantly strived as a minister and as an intellectual to synthesize Indian and Western ideas into a single, coherent pattern suitable for the newly independent nation. He was one of the few leaders of the freedom movement who, while steeped in medieval scholarship and classical learning, nevertheless transcended the limits of different classical languages and religion. Azad castigated a narrow outlook of any kind, whether expressed as cultural tradition, as national chauvinism or as religious orthodoxy. Several scholars have written on Azad’s political contributions and on his theological acumen as an Islamic scholar par excellence. However, few have examined in detail and acknowledged his immense contributions to nation building, particularly in the areas of education and culture. The need to do this is even more significant in the context of Islam today, not only in India but also globally. Maulana Azad’s ideas on education are found scattered in his writings, speeches and letters, which run into thousands of pages. He drew inspiration from diverse sources, ranging from religion to philosophy and from history to science. Most of his early engagements with, and Contemporary Education Dialogue 12(2) 238–257 © 2015 Education Dialogue Trust SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/0973184915581920 http://ced.sagepub.com