Revolutionary Phule

 

Revolutionary Phule

“ Lack of education leads to lack of wisdom, which leads to lack of morals, which leads to lack of progress, which leads to lack of money, which leads to the oppression of the lower classes, see what state of the society one lack of education can cause.”

-Phule

In my master's I opted for Dalit literature as one of my soft-core subjects. During this process of learning, I became acquainted with the personality of the Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule. I also discovered Phule is not just a social reform rather he is an institution in himself. So from then, I started admiring his revolutionary thoughts and principles.

In the early 19th century, Phule became popular due to his out-of-the-box thinking. He became the pioneer to launch a movement for the liberation of caste-oppressed, toilers and women irrespective of the caste in modern India. I must mention his inspiration for his actions such as Buddha, Kabir, the emergent liberation of the west, and the ideology of social revolution.

The purpose of sharing my views on Phule is to revive the essence of our education and outline the degrading value of our education system. Education is the only thing which is not bound by any caste, class, or gender. For any individual or community upliftment education is the key factor. Therefore, he started a massive work of education by establishing various schools in and around Poona. He argued that knowledge was an essential prerequisite. Hence he termed understanding of knowledge as the ‘Third eye’ (Tritiya Ratna) which could end the caste hegemony in India.

Today, though our Indian Constitution has provision for free and compulsory education up to 14 years of age under article (21 A) it has become a luxury for the rich and dominant caste and a liability for the poor and lower caste and marginalised. Education has become a weapon to make money rather not to change the world and also today the education centers have become the football field to achieve self-interested goals than for the progress of the nation.

Phule believed that our country would move towards progress if education becomes an instrument of emancipation and empowerment. For him education means being aware of social and economic injustice and inculcating questioning capacity but, I feel the spirit of education has remained just as the spirit which has no practical acceptance.

So my humble request is to educate ourselves with the principles of Phule and live with the spirit of emancipation and empowering each other. At the same time, my concern is also towards educating ourselves about sustainable development and climate change.   

Noorul Huda

12/04/22