Rabindranath Tagore was a great philosopher, thinker, educationist, musician, poet, and social reformer, and his multidimensional ideas are relevant not only to the present era but will remain relevant in the future. His ideas related to education were innovative and practical as per the needs of society. Those ideas were adopted deeply in his experiments in Santiniketan. His philosophy of education is still important not only from the Indian perspective but also in the world due to new challenges against humanity. He thinks that helping people reach self-realization is the fundamental goal of education. Tagore was a strong proponent of a kid’s whole personality development, the idea that each child has unique learning requirements and that everyone should be allowed to study at their own pace. Tagore’s pedagogical ideas were indigenous and scientific, which supported stress-free and happy learning experiences for the learners. This idea of a “knowledge of many arts,” often referred to as the “liberal arts,” The idea of a “knowledge of many arts,” also known as the “liberal arts,” must be incorporated back into Indian education since it is the type of education required for the twenty-first century. This aligns with NEP-2020, which suggests that all areas of creative human endeavor, including STEM fields, vocational and professional studies, and soft skills—undoubtedly having Indian roots—be considered “arts.” This type of education is essential for the modern world. Thus, this policy promotes an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to education with the overarching goal of cultivating each individual’s full potential in all areas of their being: intellectual, artistic, social, physical, emotional, and moral. As such, education aims to develop an individual to have skills such as communication, decision-making, creativity, and critical thinking for overall personality development; accordingly, a multidisciplinary approach to education in the form of STREAM has aroused global interest. STREAM education is an advanced learning method that will reshape Indian education, which somehow correlates to the Tagorian education model, in which schooling keeps up with learner’s expectations for innovation-based, flexible, multidisciplinary, experiential learning. This helps learners to develop skills like creativity, cooperation, communication, rationality, flexibility, self-reliance, etc., to prepare them for global competition.

Keywords: STREAM, Art Integration, Holistic learning, Multidisciplinary learning, Experiential learning

Tagore Philosophy of Education:

Tagore’s educational philosophy of education consisted of humanism, idealism, and naturalism. By transforming young people into liberated and imaginative thinkers rather than mindless adherents of customs and rituals, Tagore promoted education as a means of bringing about societal transformation. Memorizing is an obstacle in the natural flow of learning, while understanding makes learning deepen, which opens creativity in behavior. His educational system is based on three tenets: i) freedom; ii) imaginative expressing oneself, and iii) active connection with both man and nature (Bhattacharjee, 2014, p-35). The idea of independence sprang from his observations of the contemporary educational system. He described contemporary schools as “education factories, devoid of life, devoid of color, and detached from the universe” (Bhattacharjee, 2014, p-35). We’ve been removed from our natural surroundings by our schooling. It is not associated with any social setting. When education is isolated from real-world experiences and restricted to classroom boundaries, it loses its authenticity and becomes artificial. He believed that the main task of a teacher or educational institution was to connect the child with the natural world. He contends that a child’s independence is crucial to their ability to study and gain knowledge and skills. He supported achieving balance with the environment, the natural world, and international relations. His educational philosophy was based on the fundamental tenets of freedom and harmony (Goswami & Malviya, 2016, p. 70). He felt that teaching ought to be less ornamental and should be academic and more grounded in reality. A youngster should express themselves without fear. Every citizen of a country should have access to chances for holistic growth through its educational system, with equal emphasis placed on knowledge and skill acquisition. According to Tagore, knowledge ought to be unrestricted and unrestrained. Keeping this in mind, he founded Visva-Bharati in Shantiniketan, fulfilling his educational desire, where it at last combined the many programs and courses offered by the school and university into a single, distinctively integrated structure (Bhattacharya, 2014). The pupils’ soft needs are met by Tagore’s Pathabhavana school, which offers music, dance, theatre, and other activity-based instruction. As children integrate into the unity of self and environment, for example, outdoor learning and mandatory music education at the school level serve as significant stress relievers.

Contrary to this, Siksha Satra, another Visva Bharati institution, was established in 1924 with the specific goal of promoting education among rural residents via the development of practical skills. Tagore emphasized the need of using the mother tongue as the language of instruction for both social and intellectual growth. He focused on self-realization. He reformed education through emotional, and spiritual aspects and was less theory-based. Supporting the rural economy is essential if we hope to achieve equity and inclusive growth. Tagore accomplished this in 1927 by establishing a sustainable cooperative system that allowed rural residents who had received training from university departments to sell their goods and make a living.

Reflection of Tagore Philosophy in New Education Policy- 2020:

The major goal of the comprehensive National Education Policy 2020 is to make the educational system more inclusive, flexible, interdisciplinary, holistic, and productive. Policy advocates moving away from rote learning toward more activity-based, experiential learning methodology. This comprehensive and integrative approach to education is unquestionably very important in the twenty-first century. The poet believed that rather than being restricted to a single institutional source, information should be allowed to flow freely like a stream that everyone may access from anywhere. Upon perusing the NEP document, I see that it discusses global cooperation, joint degree courses, credit banks, and credit transfers. I am reminded of the visionary poet’s compelling goal, which allowed several renowned academics from throughout the country and the world to visit Santiniketan and contribute to its development as a center of learning. Additionally, NEP-2020 proposes a flexible and imaginative curriculum that would allow for innovative pairings of fields for study and would provide multiple of entrance and exit points, opening up new avenues for lifelong learning and assisting in avoiding the strict limitations that exist now. Large interdisciplinary universities provide chances for multidisciplinary employment in academia, government, and business at various educational stages, such as graduation, postgraduate, and Ph.D.

According to NEP 2020, multidisciplinary universities devoted to research or teaching will be established. This will allow instructors, who are empowered and encouraged to follow their academic passions and support students in achieving their goals, to share their innovative pedagogical approaches. With the help of infrastructure, qualified faculty, and other resources at higher education institutions and recently established model public universities for holistic and multidisciplinary education known as MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities), students will now have knowledge and mastery across fields as part of this policy, which aims to promote the overall development of individuals. It will be established with the goal of achieving the greatest international standards for high-quality education. The fact that the NEP 2020 echoes the identical suggestions that Tagore had in mind is intriguing.

Three national education strategies preceded the present one following India’s independence. In 1968, the first national education policy was proposed by the then-chairman of the UGC, Dr. J S Kothari. This commission adopted a trilingual formula (regional, Hindi, and English) that is very similar in all the policies even in the current policy in that it emphasizes teaching in regional languages. By extending support to the socially and economically disadvantaged groups in society, the policy also supported inclusive growth via education—a notion that was heavily emphasized in the NEP 2020. There is a bit of a conundrum since, unlike other languages, English competence is viewed as a skill in India rather than a competency.

Tagore never imagined that a single evaluation scale could be used to compare the skills and aptitudes of two different individuals. The best kind of education is one that not only imparts knowledge but also puts our lives in harmony with everything around us. The knowledgeable teacher must convey such knowledge to their pupils.

What is STREAM?

Every day, postmodern education changes to meet the demands of our world. It is vital to adapt and use what we have learned to meet new challenges and stay up to date, fusing conventional, traditional methods with cutting-edge, contemporary ones. To address the challenges of the modern world, new educational paradigms and models must be introduced. The United States has suggested STEM education as a national policy to increase the country’s capacity for innovation and competitiveness. The necessity to improve student’s learning interests, creativity capacity, and practice skills led to the development of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) by integrating Arts into STEM education as a new pedagogy. These new models must enable and make genuine learning accessible and provide an engaging, customized, innovative, timely, and high-quality approach. The cutting-edge STEAM method employs five disciplines to teach children transversal skills through an interdisciplinary approach. In the framework of STEAM education, the term “art” has been interpreted in a variety of ways (Perignat, 2019): literal arts and humanities; visual arts (painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, media art, and design); performing arts (dance, music, and theatre); aesthetics; and craft arts.  According to Perignat (2019), STEAM education can be classified into two categories based on how the disciplines are integrated: interdisciplinary STEAM education, where a team represents the common ground between the disciplines while respecting each one’s unique methodology; and multidisciplinary STEAM education, which entails collaboration between multiple disciplines. Transversal STEAM education includes observing or analyzing one discipline from the viewpoint of another discipline. Transdisciplinary STEAM education entails the complete merger of disciplines and has problem-solving as its central component. Reading and writing skills are also very important for creative and critical thinking as well as overall development of learners. Therefore, adding Reading and Writing skills into STEAM makes it STREAM.

How can STREAM Pedagogy be practiced in the Tagorian Model?

Schools have already begun to adapt to student’s requirements for flexible, interdisciplinary, engaging, discovery-based learning through STEAM and STREAM. This approach to learning helps to develop life skills like creativity, cooperation, communication, rationality, flexibility, self-reliance, etc. in learners to prepare them for global competition. STEAM is “the inclusion of Arts and Humanities in STEM education” (Spector, 2015, p. 5). It is crucial to include reading and writing in any educational program, including STEM and STEAM. Therefore, STREAM came into play. Through this cutting-edge, multidisciplinary, and holistic learning approach, students can study the humanities, languages, STEM, social sciences, professional and vocational skills, morals, ethics, human values, etc., all at the same time. In this approach, real-world problems are solved by incorporating scientific, mathematical, engineering and technological knowledge creatively. STREAM education puts primacy on integrated curriculum and pedagogy to use knowledge and skills in creative and imaginative (i.e. artistic) ways (Pant et al., 2020, p. 321). The ‘A’ in STREAM education helps address the unaccounted approaches to integration. For example, arts-based methods (painting, building models, storytelling, singing, etc.) help teachers and students connect various disciplinary skills of science and mathematics. The application of scientific, engineering, and artistic design can assist students strengthen their science skills through the use of the STREAM-based learning strategy. Using a variety of easily accessible materials, students collaborate to explore, create, invent, and learn during these activities. Science reading and writing abilities foster critical and creative thinking, students become more confident in their ability to solve problems. Employing this approach from a young age helps children develop the following abilities: critical thinking, problem-solving and creative thinking, imagination and creativity, interest and curiosity for new information, brain exercise on both sides, communication skills and competencies, as well as active participation in the learning process, boosting self-esteem, independence, teamwork, learning via discovery, and instruction in technical and digital skills.

Application of STREAM in Tagorian Model Institution:

It is clear from the above discussion that, STREAM Approach to learning is very crucial for institutions like Path Bhavana and Siksha Satra as it will be beneficial for achieving the educational thoughts of Tagore in his institution. The intervention programme based on STREAM Learning Approach was implemented in Siksha Satra during the experimental study. Five projects were included in this intervention programme. Each project includes creative writing based on the given keywords. Students of class seven work collaboratively in groups to complete the tasks of each project ultimately making the products and presenting them before the class. All of the group presented creative writing of their group whether it was a song, poem, play, or story. They sang the song along with the required instrument, recited the poem, and told the story with the background music as well as played their respective roles in drama/play. After completing the above task, they also showed their working model and explained how the model works, its use, and the science and logic behind its workability.

Conclusion:

“All educational processes should be based on our cultural traditions” is Tagore’s educational tenet in the Indian setting. He underlined that the mother language must be the primary medium of instruction. The Gurukul system served as the foundation for Tagore’s educational philosophy. He believed that nature is our best teacher and that it is crucial for kids to learn in the natural world. According to Tagore, learning should involve both self-discovery and independent invention. Tagore thought that education should be a vital part of society and that intellectual learning should be connected to the arts and crafts that address human emotions. For this reason, literature and music were part of his education. Tagore understands that we are a fundamental component of the infinite cosmos. Thus, spiritual education needs to be a part of our education as well. To free us from ignorance and poverty, he placed a strong emphasis on integrating Western knowledge, science, and values into an Indian cultural and educational framework. The National Educational Policy 2020 is believed to have followed the principles of Tagore. The NEP 2020 stresses establishing multidisciplinary universities in the same way Tagore had established educational institutions like Pathabhavana, Siksha Shatra, and Viswa-Bharati, where multidisciplinary, holistic, flexible, activity-based learning, mother tongue-based education is the main mode. STEAM and STREAM pedagogies help implement the Tagorian model of learning as well as NEP-2020 recommendations. This approach helps the learners to prepare themselves for global challenges.

Acknowledgement:

This study is a part of post-doctoral research. This research work has been financed by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, since December 2023.