Title: Lifelong Learning and Learning for Life: As Envisaged by Grundtvig, Tagore, Gandhi, and Friere
Abstract:Lifelong learning is designed to enable people, at any stage of their life, to take part in stimulating learning experiences, as well as developing education and training across the society. It implie...Lifelong learning is designed to enable people, at any stage of their life, to take part in stimulating learning experiences, as well as developing education and training across the society. It implies that learning is a continuum which occurs every day, week, month, and year. The present paper explains what N. F. S. Grundtvig, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, and Paulo Friere meant by Lifelong learning and Learning for life with relevance to the present context. Lifelong learning has three broad constituent elements: Learning for life, Learning for livelihood, and Learning throughout life. The first one, learning for life is a Grundtvigian innovation of more than 200 years. The aim of this education, as visualized by him, should make neither education nor itself its goal but the requirements of life. It must take life as it really is and shed light on and promote its usefulness. Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi have thought about the three components of lifelong learning in a holistic way. Learning for life denotes learning which is essential for the human being, a learning that adorns life and makes it worth living. Tagore felt that to uplift the quality of life of rural community, the rural population should be brought within the circumference of formal, informal, and non-formal learning so that the people themselves could appreciate and enhance their own cultural traditions. Mahatma Gandhi experimented with the same thoughts when he came out with his concept of basic education. His scheme placed supreme importance on knowing through doing, which he visualized as craft-oriented. To Paulo Friere, ‘Conscientization’ is the most important aspect of education. Conscientization is a political-education process which enables the masses to overcome ‘false consciousness’. This is absolutely necessary for the oppressed masses to get rid of ‘Culture of Silence’. In today's 21st century the concept of lifelong learning and learning for life are extremely relevant to keep oneself ongoing and meet the latest requirements of the technology driven society.Read More
Publication Year: 2018
Publication Date: 2018-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot