“RELEVANCE OF LOKMANYA TILAK’S CALL FOR EDUCATION IN TODAY’S TIMES”

Abstract

One of the most inspiring leaders at the forefront of India’s struggle against colonial rule was Bal
Gangadhar Tilak, a visionary and a versatile personality. Among his myriad contributions to the birth of
modern India was as educationist and academician who dedicated himself to the spread of knowledge
among the masses. Variously known as the " Lion of Maharashtra” and “Lokmanya”, Tilak was feared by
the British as the ‘father of Indian unrest’ and admired by his compatriots across the spectrum.
The foundational concepts of Tilak and other eminent revolutionaries of that landmark era in Indian history
eventually led to the ‘Idea’ of a unified Indian nationhood and manifested in the principles enshrined in
our Constitution, which aimed to put Indian society on a path of democracy, progress and the pursuit of
knowledge.
This paper critically analyses the achievements and problems of the ‘educated’ young generation of today
and studies if and how far the ideas propounded by Tilak and his generation of leaders are still relevant.
Emerging from the first generation of Indians to receive a college education, Tilak’s choice of Mathematics
as the primary subject for his Bachelor of Arts degree, which he finished in first class from Deccan College
of Pune in 1877, speaks volumes. We know that Mathematics improves the power of reasoning, creativity,
abstract or spatial thinking, and scientific temper and disciplined problem-solving ability. In fact, after
completing his LLB course in 1879 from the Government Law College, Tilak started teaching mathematics
at the Fergusson College in Pune from which he later withdrew to become a journalist and plunge headlong
into the f