Page 44 - EducationWorld January 2023

Pictorial Essay

Commemorative Award

Shree Dakshinamoorti Balmandir, Bhavnagar

Founder: Gijubhai Badheka (1885-1939)

Prashant Nanabhai Bhatt (centre), trustee, receives award & citation from EW’s
Dilip Thakore (left) & Dr. Swati Popat Vats, president, Early Childhood Associaton

law graduate of Bombay University, Gijubhai conditions. Divaswapna is a record of Gijubhai’s experi-
Badheka (1885-1939) is the insufficiently ments in the classrooms of the Balmandir to nurture chil-
A acknowledged pioneer of playway, joyful early dren by promoting joyful learning, freedom of expression
childhood care and education (ECCE) for youngest and making children self-reliant.
children. Born in 1885 in Saurashtra (Gujarat) he began After Gijubhai’s death in 1939, Shree Dakshinamoorti
his career as a lawyer in the Bombay Presidency. One of Balmandir and his philosophy have been kept alive by sub-
his clients was the Dakshinamoorti Vidyarthi Bhavan, an sequent trustees. The school has graduated over 50,000
education trust founded in 1910 by Shri Nanabhai Bhatt. children and hundreds of educators visit the Balmandir
The birth of his son Narendra in 1913 proved a turning annually to learn and absorb the ECCE philosophy and
point in Gijubhai’s life. Alarmed at the prospect of his in- pedagogy of India’s pioneer preschool. However it’s a
fant son being schooled in a system where corporal punish- tragedy that Gijubhai Badheka’s emphasis on the critical
ment, rote learning and premature induction into formal importance of joyful, exploratory and discovery-infused
education was normative, Gijubhai began interacting with early childhood education and the Balmandir model was
local educationists and was inspired by the education phi- not embraced by post-independence India’s academy and
losophy of Rome-based Dr. Maria Montessori. Soon he was establishment.
converted to the cause of providing joyful and stress-free Fortunately almost a century later, the pioneering edu-
education for youngest children. cation philosophy and guidelines of Gijubhai Badheka have
In 1916, Gijubhai quit the legal profession and signed up been acknowledged and incorporated into the National
as assistant superintendent at Shree Dakshinamoorti Vidy- Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage 2022 docu-
arthi Bhavan. Subsequently, in 1920 the trust promoted the ment of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The
Shree Dakshinamoorti Balmandir under Gijubhai’s leader- policy mandates five years of play-based early childhood
ship. Five years later in 1925, Gijubhai founded India’s first education while publicly acknowledging the huge contribu-
pre-primary teachers training college — Adhyapak Mandir. tion of Gijubhai Badheka to foundational education.
In 1932, Gijubhai wrote and published Divaswapna In acknowledgement of the valuable contribution of
(‘day-dreaming), the subcontinent’s first pre-primary ed- Shree Dakshinamoorti Balmandir for adopting and prac-
ucation manual. Although it liberally borrowed from the ticing the education philosophy of Gijubhai Badheka for
philosophies and models of European ECCE pioneers Dr. over a century, the Board of Directors and Editors of
Maria Montessori, Friedrich Frobel and Jean Piaget, Gi- EducationWorld are pleased to confer a Commemorative
jubhai designed a syllabus/curriculum comprising music, Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Indian Education
dance, travel, story-telling and outdoor play to suit Indian upon Shree Dakshinamoorti Balmandir, Bhavnagar.

44 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2023