“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”
Savitribai Phule is known as India’s first female teacher. She deserves to be mentioned as one of the best teachers in Indian history. She revolutionized India and together with her husband, opened a school in 1848 where she enrolled untouchable girls of society. Many people opposed this, but she did not panic and continued to teach in school. Later she opened five more similar schools.
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“The lack of learning is nothing but gross bestiality. It is through the acquisition of knowledge that (he) loses his lower status and achieves the higher one.”
“We shall overcome and success will be ours in the future. The future belongs to us.”
“Sit idle no more. Go get education.”
The second President and the first Vice President of Independent India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a great teacher and he is considered one of the best teachers in Indian history.
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“Books are the means by which we build bridges between cultures.”
“A life of joy and happiness is possible only on the basis of knowledge and science.”
“We must recall humanity to those moral roots from which both order and freedom spring.”
The writer of the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ believed that “The main objective of teaching is not to give explanations, but to knock on the doors of the mind”.
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“It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.”
“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”
“The main object of teaching is not to give explanations, but to knock at the doors of the mind.”
Swami Vivekananda was not only one of the great Indian reformers but he was known for his unparalleled intellect and one of the best teachers of India.. The founder of ‘Ramakrishna Mission’ was born in 1863.
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“Arise! Awake! Stop not until the goal is reached.”
“Everything is easy when you are busy. But nothing is easy when you are lazy.”
“Talk to yourself at least once in a day otherwise you may miss meeting an excellent person in this world.”
Although Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was well known as a scientist, he was also a scholar. He inspired millions of children to move forward in their lives. He was the 11th President of India. He was also known as a missile man for his contribution to India’s nuclear and space engineering fields.
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“If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.”
“All of us do not have equal talent. But, all of us have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.”
“Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.”
Gautam Buddha was probably the first teacher in Indian history whom we still know. He was born in 480 BC as Siddhartha and was constantly in search of freedom and happiness. He was a king but he renounced his kingdom and luxurious life in want to salvation. He followed a strict penance under a Bodhi tree and later founded Buddhism. He then went on educating humanity through his Eightfold Path.
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“You only lose what you cling to.”
“Win in your mind and you will win in your reality.”
“You cannot always control what goes outside, but you can always control what goes inside.”
The Indian educationist and founder of Arya Samaj, Swami Dayanand Saraswati was a leader of Hindu reform movements during the Vedic period.
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“Validation of culture of a child is itself validation of a child itself.”
“Give the world the best you have and best will come back to you.”
” The highest form of service is to help a person who is incapable of thanking in return.”
While mentioning the best teachers in Indian history and forgetting to mention Chanakya make the list of famous teachers incomplete.
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“No one can defeat a powerful mind.”
“Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.”
“Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. It’s not pride, it’s self respect.”
Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj also known as Rajarshi Shahu was considered a true democrat and social reformer. First Maharaja of the princely state of Kolhapur, he was an invaluable gem in the history of Maharashtra. Greatly influenced by the contributions of social reformer Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj was an ideal leader and able ruler who was associated with many progressive and path breaking activities during his rule. From his coronation in 1894 till his demise in 1922, he worked tirelessly for the cause of the lower caste subjects in his state. Primary education to all regardless of caste and creed was one of his most significant priorities. |
“Inheritance not came from the father, but inheritance have to achieved by self capability.”
"The well-being of the society means the welfare of myself.”
B.R. Ambedkar, as is well known, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India, devoted most of his intellectual, social and political efforts to give expression to his belief in the ideal, “Sarvenah Bhavantu Sukhinah SarveSantu Niramayah” i.e. the good and prosperity of all and struggled throughout his life for securing the rightful place for the discriminated, deprived and downtrodden sections of our society. Though several efforts were made by Ambedkar to establish an equalitarian society in India and had been discussed widely by different scholars yet few studies are available to project him as a great educationist.
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"Be Educated, Be Organised and Be Agitated"
"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved"
"Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence"
"We are Indians, firstly and lastly".
His constructive nature and versatile brilliance attracted his attention towards various social problems and Indian education. He openly blamed the English Government for not imparting proper education to Indian people. He realized that a little modification in the existing education system would not prove fruitful. He pleaded for an overall change and so he said that “Pray, Please, Protest”, would not bring any concrete result. He, therefore, raised the slogan for “Swadeshi”. This could only be fruitful.
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“Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it!”
"The problem is not the lack of resources or capability, but the lack of will."
"Life is allabout a card game. Selecting the right card is not in our hand. But playingwell with the cards in hand determines our success."
"Freedom is my birthright. I must haveit."
He undertook the responsibility of educating his own sons and other children as he occupied the place of a father.
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"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever".
"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver".
"The future depends on what you do today".
"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes".
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated".
Jyotiba Phule was a prominent social reformer from Maharashtra. Jyotiba Phule educated his wife and advised her to teach girls. It was due to his encouragement, Savitri Bai became the first female teacher in the country. In August 1848, he established the first school for girls in India.
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"God is one and he is the creator of all".
"Education is the primary requirement of man and woman".
"True education signifies empowering others and leaving the world a little better than the one we found".
Gijubhai Badheka (15 November 1885 – 23 June 1939) was an educator who helped to introduce Montessori education methods to India. He is referred to as "Moochhali Maa" ("mother with whiskers"). Badheka was a high court lawyer, however, following the birth of his son in 1923, he developed an interest in childhood development and education. In 1920, Badheka founded the "Bal Mandir" pre-primary school. Badheka published a number of works in the field of education including Divaswapna ("Daydreams"). |
" Games are real education. Great powers are born on the playground. Games mean character-building"
"Early childhood education is the first & foremost step towards building a great nation".
Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual justice and social justice. According to Plato, individual justice can be obtained when each individual develops his or her ability to the fullest. In this sense, justice means excellence. For the Greeks and Plato, excellence is virtue.
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“If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.”
“Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
“Ideas are the source of all things.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–88), one of the most important social and political philosophers of modern times, wrote a book on education which described the way he would educate an imaginary boy, Emile. The education Rousseau recommended for Emile’s wife-to-be, Sophy, is presented in Chapter 5. Rousseau was one of the first modern thinkers to suggest a more natural or authentic alternative to didactic education.
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"Education is either from nature, from man or from things. The developing of our faculties and organs is the education of nature; that of man is the application we learn to make of this very developing; and that of things is the experience we acquire in regard to the different objects by which we are affected. All that we have not at our birth, and that we stand in need of at the years of maturity, is the gift of education".
"The real world has its limits; the imaginary world is infinite. Unable to enlarge the one, let us restrict the other, for it is from the difference between the two alone that are born all the pains which make us truly unhappy".
"I would rather be a man of paradoxes than a man of prejudices".
John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century.
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"We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience".
"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself".
"If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow".
"Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself".
"To me faith means not worrying".
Aristotle is understood to have lived from 384 BC to 322 BC in Ancient Greece which today would span a geographical area that includes Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and parts of Afghanistan (Malam, 2006). He was a philosopher, scientist and teacher who is still viewed today as one of the most significant thinkers in the field of ethics and psychology.
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“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ...
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ...
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ...
“Hope is a waking dream.”
"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness".
"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny".
"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet".
The Montessori Method was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 1900s. It's a specific child-centered method of education that involves child-led activities (referred to as “work”), classrooms with children of varying ages and teachers who encourage independence among their pupils.
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"The child gives us a beautiful lesson – that in order to form and maintain our intelligence, we must use our hands".
"It is interesting to notice that where life is simple and natural and where the children participate in the adult’s life, they are calm and happy".
"Children have an absorbent mind. They absorb knowledge from the environment without fatigue. This is the moment in the life of man when we can do something for the betterment of humanity and further brotherhood".
"All the great men the world has ever had, in music, poetry, science etc., have all been children. We don’t know what the child will become, but he possesses a great force, and if he is to develop to the best of his capabilities by the time he is a man, it is essential that he obeys all the laws of nature during his development".
In the history of education, the significant contributions of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi are his educational philosophy and instructional method that encouraged harmonious intellectual, moral, and physical development; his methodology of empirical sensory learning, especially through object lessons; and his use of activities, excursions, and nature studies that anticipated Progressive education.
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"Whoever is unwilling to help himself can be helped by no one".
"Our home joys are the most delightful earth affords, and the joy of parents in their children is the most holy joy of humanity".
"The greatest victory a man can win is victory over himself".
"Man must search for what is right, and let happiness come on its own".