Benoy Kumar Sarkar 1887 1949 and his Thoughts on Education and Development

Abstract

newline During the swadeshi era in the history of Bengal various intellectuals put forward their ideas about the future process of development of India. Intellectuals like Benoy Kumar Sarkar realized that in the colonial system of education, there was very little scope for higher science and technology in it. Though the Civil Engineering College (later on Bengal Engineering College) had been established in 1856, it taught only electrical and civil engineering of a rudimentary type to procure draughtsmen for the P.W.D. Therefore there was a crying need for a more general kind of scientific and technological education. This was the background of the Bengal Technical Institute and the later College of Engineering and Technology under the auspices of the National Council of Education, during the Swadeshi era. Benoy Kumar Sarkar writes that to start with, there should be course of mistrification followed by industrialization and finally modernization. This was according to Sarkar, education for industrialization . Sarkar suggested on educational reform, economic planning and national welfare. During the swadeshi period there was a spurt in the field of education and different economic activities. People like Brajendra Nath Seal, Benoy Kumar Sarkar, Satish Chandra Mukherjee, Nilratan Sarkar, Tarak Nath Palit were chief exponents of education and intellectual activities. Benoy Kumar Sarkar played key role in the development of technical education, and in the spread of the same. He linked this with the economic development of the country and countrymen. This contribution along with his contribution in the development of literature not only helped India in making progress but also helped the youth of the period to be involved in better occupation. Sarkar s ideology known as sarkarism and his contacts world over acted as catalyst in the whole process. newlineBenoykumar Sarkar was a famous educationist, economist and revolutionary of colonial India. His thoughts influenced other educationists, education policy