Swami Vivekananda travelled through the whole of India on foot only to get acquainted with the people of different regions. He was shocked beyond measure to find that the large majority of people were living in utter poverty, ignorance, and superstition. What pained him most was that they had forgotten that they too were human beings and even had no desire to improve their lot. Like animals, they patiently suffered and bore without protest all the hardships, humiliations and neglect the society thrust on them. Swamiji was greatly moved and his only concern was how to make his countrymen conscious of the injustice and neglect to which they had been subjected for centuries and inspire them to rise and find their rightful place in the social order.

Having studied the situation, Swamiji came to the conclusion that only a handful of men enjoyed educational opportunities while the rest were denied that prwilege and that this was the chief cause of India's ruin. If we are to rise again, Swamiji thought, we have to spread education among the masses. The only service to be rendered to them is to give education to help them regain their lost individuality.

Swamiji's view was further reinforced when he visited America and other Western countries shortly after the completion of his Bharat Parikrama. He was moved to tears when he found how the common people of those countries had good food, good clothes, good houses to live in as compared to his own countrymen of similar status. He observed that Western people in general were conscious of their usefulness to society and hence lived a life of dignity. And the reason behind all this was that they had opportunities for education, which was altogether denied to the majority of people in India. The more he thought about these social differences, the more he became convinced that education should be given top priority in any programme for the upliftment of the lower classes. Even social reforms will not be effective if people are not educated enough to appreciate the results.

SWAMIJI'S PLAN

When Swamiji returned to India in 1897 after the first phase of his work abroad, he had some definite plans for serving the poor. On the way to Calcutta, he delivered a speech at Madras where he explained his plan of campaign.

He said: '... my plan is to start institutions in India, to train our young men as preachers of the truths of our scriptures in India and outside India.' In his plan, he gave top priority to the diffusion of spiritual as well as secular knowledge.

Soon after reaching Calcutta, he founded the Ramakrishna Mission and laid down its objectives which included the establishment and management of educational institutions at different places where education was to be imparted according to his ideals. That was in May 1897, and in the meantime a century has passed by.

Swamiji has given a remarkable definition of education. He says, 'Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.' He stated that all knowledge, spiritual and secular, is stored in the human mind, just as a huge banyan tree lies within a tiny seed. The function of the teacher is only to help that seed sprout and grow by offering suggestions. The relation between the teacher and the taught is therefore of utmost importance. There should be perfect understanding and mutual sympathy between them.

In pursuance of its objectives, the Ramakrishna Mission, over the past one hundred years, has established a number of schools, colleges, and other educational institutions allover the country and has been trying its best to spread education among the people.

The educational philosophy of Swami Vivekananda envisages an ideal blending of the heart and the intellect. Besides, faith, sympathy, and mutual respect between the learner, the guardian, and the teacher are also carefully developed in all the educational institutions run by the Ramakrishna Mission. In Vedic times, students were taught to see their parents, teachers, and guests as God. Swamiji went farther and asked all to look at the poor and illiterate as God. In his view, those educated men and women are traitors who do not try to uplift the poor and backward people. Assimilation of five constructive and noble ideas, according to Swami Vivekananda, is more useful than getting by heart a whole library.

MAN-MAKING EDUCATION

The Ramakrishna Mission therefore aims at man-making and character-building education. Swamiji reminded the educationists of the country again and again that religion should be the core of our education system as it helps one to attain real manhood. Swami Premeshananda, an ideal and experienced teacher in his pre-monastic life, advised the students of the Ramakrishna Mission schools to this effect:

A day will come when your university education will come to an end. Then you will have to take up various responsible duties. Now you are not like toys in the hands of foreigners; now you are the free citizens of independent India. From now onward you will have to keep vigilance towards the welfare of (i) your own self, (ii) India, (iii) and the whole of humanity.

You should learn those things which will make your life happy in all respects. That which does not turn the joy of early life into the sorrow of youth, the merriment of youth into the sorrow of middle-age, and the happiness of the middle-age into the miseries of old age is the right type of learning.

Education which makes the whole society happy with the happiness of the individual and which produces a society which is constrained and fair in its relation with other societies is called the right type of education. Whatsoever removes misery and increases happiness and makes the happiness stable is real education.

VARIETY OF INSTITUTIONS

Since its establishment in 1897, the Mission has been running thousands of institutions for formal and non-formal education. These include orphanages, students' homes, a Blind Boys Academy, non-formal and adult education centres, self-employment training centres, Samaj Sevak Training Centres, agricultural research institutes, cattle farming institutes, technical schools, polytechnics, community polytechnics, computer training centres, language schools, libraries, librarianship training centres, hospitals and institutes for training nurses, teachers' training institutes, post-graduate medical research institutes, Veda Vidyalaya, and countless formal schools and colleges. The Mission also runs schools and hostels for tribal boys and girls in Arunachal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa and other remote parts of the country.

These institutions run by the Ramakrishna Mission are all recognized by the concerned authorities such as Boards, University or the relevant government departments. The students are taught the course of studies as prescribed by such authorities with particular care. This is evident from the brilliant performance of the students at different public examinations.

HARMONIOUS DEVELOPMENT

But this presents only a part of the picture. The educational programme of the Mission envisages a harmonious develop ment of head, heart, and hand based on a sound moral and religious background. The students are helped to cultivate a deeply religious attitude and a genuine respect for the glorious traditions and culture of their country. Broadly speaking, it is the man-making and character-building education which the students receive at various Mission institutions, a kind of education which was stressed by Swami Vivekananda.

The religion to which the learners or inmates are exposed and which they are inspired to follow is the universal religion of which Sri Ramakrishna was the living embodiment and Swami Vivekananda was the chief exponent. It is the religion that enables one to see God in every being. In addition to the prescribed text books, the students are required to read books on ancient Indian history and culture.

In order to promote the development of an integrated personality, facilities for sports and games and various extra-curricular activities are offered by all the centres of the Mission. Performances of dramas, debate, recitations, drawing, painting, modelling, music, sky-searching, horticulture, etc. form an essential part of the educational programme. Annual sports events and competitions are regularly organized and prizes are awarded. As a result, students of the Mission institutions have also made their marks in many of these fields. Besides, every institution from nursery school to the Degree College level publishes a magazine periodically with contributions mainly from the students. This greatly helps the students to cultivate writing skills and develop their literary potential.

Training in handicrafts and different vocational trades has been introduced in some of the centres. Such training has helped many to earn a livelihood. Moreover the students regularly participate in exhibitions of handicrafts, science projects, etc. which the students themselves organize under the direct supervision of teachers. Religious festivals and birthdays of great men and saints are also reverently observed at Mission institutions with students taking an active part. Extensive library facilities are made available in most of the centres and students are encouraged to develop an interest in general reading. Moreover, pictures of saints and other great men and women of all countries are displayed in classrooms, shrines and other places. Students are also urged to acquire knowledge about the lives and activities of these outstanding people.

NATIONAL INTEGRATION

Promotion of national integration and communal harmony plays a prominent role in all the programmes and activities of the students who represent different castes and religions. Consequently, they learn the art of loving each other, and the art of living and working together. They also learn to honour our country as their own mother. All efforts are made to ensure that they are free of all evil influences such as unsympathetic caste distinctions, religious intolerance and bigotry. In short, the aim of the Mission is to bring up our youth as ideal citizens on the model laid down by Swami Vivekananda.

Admittedly, the Mission cannot cater to the needs of the whole country in matters of education. However, in spite of various hindrances, the Mission institutions have been trying their best to serve the nation in the field of education. Taken together, they have become a model which may be followed by the people and different organizations which are dedicated to raising Mother India from its present predicament.