z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-04.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 296
296 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Would you approve of an absolute exclusion of science from the Arts Courses ? Do you approve of the present dissociation of Literature and Arts from the study of science ?
Do you consider the existing courses for the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree provide a sufficient variety of options and satisfactory combinations and correlations of Courses of Study ?
IX. Use of the Vernacular
(Questions 45-46)
To what stage and to what extent do you consider the vernacular, can and should be used to replace English as the medium of instruction and examination (a) in Bombay, (b) in any newly constituted University ? What safeguards do you suggest to secure that the standard of English required by students does not suffer from such replacement ?
What do you consider the best method of promoting the scientific study of the Vernaculars of this Presidency and for encouraging the production of good vernacular literature of all kinds ?
XIII. Special Communities
(Question 52)
- Do you consider any special measures are required for the promotion of University education in any particular community ?
*WRITTEN EVIDENCE BY D R . B. R. AMBEDKAR
Question 1: I agree with the Inspectors of the Board of Education in England that the aim and functions of University Education should be to see that the teaching carried on there is suited to adults ; that it is scientific, detached and impartial in character; that it aims not so much at filling the mind of the student with fact or theories as at calling forth his own individuality, and stimulating him to mental effort; that it accustoms him to the critical study of the leading authorities, with perhaps, occasional reference to first hand sources of information, and that it implants in his mind a standard of thoroughness, and gives him a sense of the difficulty as well as the value of reaching at truth. The student so trained should learn to distinguish between what may fairly be called matter of fact and what is certainly mere matter of opinion. He should be accustomed to distinguish issues, and to look at separate questions each on its own merits and without an eye to their bearing on some cherished theory. He should learn to state fairly, and even sympathetically, the position of those to whose practical conclusions he is most stoutly opposed. He should become able to examine a suggested idea, and see what comes of it, before accepting it or rejecting it. Without necessarily becoming an original student he should gain an insight into the conditions under which original research is carried on. He
*University Reforms Committee-Written Evidence No. 103, pp. 1-17, dated 15th August 1924.