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গিজুভাই বাধেকা  (Gijubhai Badheka) 

( From Wikipedia for internal reading of Education Team )

গিজুভাই বাধেকা এগৰাকী প্ৰখ্যাত শিক্ষাবিদ।  তেখেতৰ দ্বাৰা   মূল গুজৰাটী ভাষাত ৰচিত “দিবা স্বপ্ন” গ্ৰন্থখন আমাৰদেশত মণ্টেচৰী শিক্ষা পদ্ধতিৰ প্ৰয়োগৰ এক মনোৰম কাহিনী। অস্মিতা কলিতাই এই গ্ৰন্থ খনৰ কিয়দাংশ ছোৱা ছোৱাকৈ  অসমীয়ালৈ অনুবাদ কৰি ইয়াত লিখিব।

(15 November 1885 – 23 June 1939)

Gijubhai Badheka  was an educator who helped to introduce Montessori education methods to India.^[1] 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-rimary school.^[2] Badheka published a number of works in the field of education including Divaswapna ("Daydreams").^[2]

Gijubhai became a father in 1913 when a son was born to him. Soon after his birth, when the young father picked up his little boy, for a few minutes he was sad and anxious. His own childhood flashed before his eyes. After all, like every child from a respectable family, his son too would have to go to school. And school for Gijubhai meant being caned daily for the slightest misdemeanour. As he held his newborn, Gijubhai knew that this little fellow too would have to go to school — a land of small terrors. "Wasn’t there a way out? Couldn’t there be a better way to teach and learn?" Gijubhai started asking questions. The real purpose of education, Gijubhai felt, was to have a teacher that understood the children that he/she was educating. If the child spent five or more hours with one person, five days a week, shouldn’t the child also get to love and genuinely respect the teacher?

Gijubhai, like all parents, wanted his son to be happy, safe and comfortable all through his life. He also realised that all parents forced their kids to schools and the best schools of the time had teachers who only knew how to teach through fear. Gijubhai felt that if children are treated with respect and there are enough meaningful learning opportunities, no child would abhor coming to school. In fact, they would look forward to being in a place where there were so many children and an adult who helped them explore the world around them. Could that be possible? Gijubhai worried about it. He turned to reading and researching. This is how he stumbled upon Maria Montessori and all that she had been working on.

All these readings taught Gijubhai the Montessori education wherein the role of an adult or a teacher is to only help unfold the hidden and inborn developmental powers of the child. The child already possesses everything. The adult is the facilitator. Maria Montessori believed that the child must be guided in the path of reaching adulthood because from the earliest moments of life children are possessed with great constructive energies that guide the formation of their mind and the coordination of their bodies.

Gijubhai devoured the book on Montessori Method. It was an introduction to another microcosm wherein teaching was done in the ‘play-way’ method. Enthused by all that he was learning, Gijubhai started spending more time with teachers and schools. Convinced that he had to be the change, in 1915 he assisted in the establishment of Dakshinamurti (Bala Bhavan) and then started a hostel at Bhavnagar. In 1916, he gave up his legal practice and joined Dakashinamurti as assistant superintendent.  

Gijubhai’s contribution was the evolution of a system of child education suitable to Indian environment, training of teachers and creation of a body of literature for children. While liberally borrowing from the educational philosophies of Montessori, Fröbel, Dalton and others, he came up with a mixture of music, dance,  travel, storytelling and outdoor play to fit Indian requirements. Freedom and love were the twin principles around which the system revolved. The school was an instant hit. Mahatma Gandhi, who himself had clear thoughts and views on learning, was very fond of Gijubhai Badheka. It was he who called Gijubhai ‘Moochali Ma’, or mother with whiskers, and the name stayed.