Significance of Educational and Social Thought of Dewey and Gandhi in 21st Century India: an Interpretative Study

Politically Indian democracy has been strong for a while now, but the notion of considering education as a democratic right is fairly a new proposition. It is a scheme which so far cannot be said to have influenced the system of education in India in a substantial manner. In other words, putting elementary education into the list of fundamental civic right is only symbolic. The transformation of its symbolic value into a reconceptualisation of education as a facet of democracy, not merely an instrument of democratization – is a strenuous undertaking. This paper then attempts to commence this task with hope and concern to detail by using Dewey's and Gandhi's ideas on education. It intends to compare Dewey's and Gandhi's educational and social thought. Even though Dewey's democracy finds its motivational energy from within its functioning and Gandhi's democracy is an outcome of the human urge for the divine, both Dewey and Gandhi become significant in the 21st century for reconstructing a better education system in India.