Introduction- “Though Ambedkar is my old antagonist, yet he is the only man who knows about the

constitution and law better than anyone in this whole country, and if you will not take the advantage
of his knowledge and experience, then this foolishness would not be considered his loss but the loss
of whole India altogether.” Mahatma Gandhi said these words to Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar
Vallabh Bhai Patel when they went to seek advice from the Mahatma. Such was the aura of “Dr.
Bhim Rao Ramji Ambedkar”, the father of Indian Constitution and the first law minister of free India.
He was an Indian nationalist, jurist, political leader, activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist,
historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, revolutionary and the revivalist of
Buddhism in India. He was also known as “Baba Sahib”.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was a real diamond that any nation can have pride in. He was born in such a caste
which was considered to be untouchable at that period of time. He can be co-related with a stone
which is extracted from deep mines, carved and polished several times before it finally becomes a
diamond. He was an extraordinary 14th child of his ordinary parents who learnt to fight with the
discriminating world at an early age for his existence and worth as a ‘human being’ first and
belonging to a lower caste later. The socio- political milieu at that time was very strong to weaken
the determination of any “lower-caste/untouchable” stigmatized child from receiving the common
education but these things could not stop young ambedkar from proving his worth later.

Ambedkar’s original surname was “Ambavadekar” (derived from the name of his native village
‘Ambavade’ in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra). It was his teacher, Mahadev Ambedkar, a brahmin
who changed his surname from ‘Ambavadekar’ to his own surname ‘Ambedkar’ in school records
when he was in high school as he was very fond of him, he used to give portions of his lunch during
the recess time to him. Bhimrao very gracefully accepted this new family name given to him by his
beloved teacher. And for the rest of his life, he lived with that last name. Baba Sahib has always
remembered this teacher for his life time.

Education of Baba sahib- The journey of the education of this great personality began in Satara,
Maharashtra where he completed his elementary education, According to the gazette notification
issued by the government, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar resided here during 1896 to 1904 and did his
primary schooling from the ‘Pratap-Singh high school’. In 1907, he passed his matriculation
examination and entered the University of Bombay, becoming one of the first persons of
untouchable origin to enter a college in India. This success provoked celebrations in his community,
and after a public ceremony he was presented with a biography of Buddha by his teacher ‘Krishnaji
Arjun Keluskar’ also known as ‘Dada Keluskar’. In 1908, he went to Eliphinstone College and
obtained a scholarship of twenty five rupees a month from the Gayakwad ruler of Baroda, ‘Sahyaji
Rao III’. By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science, and prepared to take up
employment with the Baroda state government. A few months later, Ambedkar was selected by the
Gayakwad ruler to travel to the United States of America and enroll at the Columbia University for
higher education, with a scholarship of $11.5 per month. Arriving at Newyork, Ambedkar was
admitted to the graduate studies programme at the political science department. After a brief stay
at the dormitory, he moved to a housing club run by Indian students and took up rooms with a Parsi
friend ‘Naval Bhathena’. The three years Ambedkar spent at Columbia (1913-1916), awakened his
potential as per him. The transcript of Ambedkar’s work at Columbia reveals that he audited many
classes, more than he could have taken for grades, including such subjects as “railroad economics.”
During his three years at Columbia University, Ambedkar took twenty nine courses in economics,
eleven in history, six in sociology, five in philosophy, four in anthropology, three in politics and one
each in elementary French and German. In 1916, he was awarded a Ph.D. for a thesis which he
eventually published in book form as “The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India”. His first
published work, however, was a paper titled “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and
Development”. Winning his degree and doctorate, he travelled to London and enrolled at Gray’s
Inn and the London school of economics, studying law and preparing a doctoral thesis in economics.
Edward Cannon, Professor of Political Economy in the University of London wrote: “I don’t know
anything about Ambedkar except that he came to do a thesis and attacked it and me in a way which
showed he had quite extraordinary practical ability…I rather wonder if he is a pure Indian; his
character is rather Scotch-American.” To us it is absolutely clear that Ambedkar was a pure Indian,
however, a victim of caste discrimination in his own country. The expiration of his scholarship the
following year forced him to temporarily abandon his studies and return to India amidst world war
(1).
Returning to work as military secretary for Baroda state, Ambedkar was distressed by the sudden
reappearance of discrimination in his life, and left his job to work as a private tutor and accountant,
even starting his own consultancy business that failed owing to his social status. With the help of an
English acquaintance, the former Bombay Governor Lord Sydenham, he won a post as professor of
political economy at the Sydenham College of economics in Mumbai. He was able to return to
England in 1920 with the support of the Maharaja of Kolhapur, his Parsi friend and his own savings.
By 1923 he completed a thesis on ‘The Problem of the Rupee’. He was awarded a D.Sc. by the
University of London, and on finishing his law studies, he was simultaneously admitted to the British
Bar as a barrister. On his way back to India, Ambedkar spent three months in Germany, where he
conducted further studies in economics at the University of Bonn. He was formally awarded a Ph.D.
by Columbia University on June 8, 1927. He was also awarded L.L.D (Honoris Causa) in June 1952
from Columbia University, New York for his achievements, leadership and authoring the
‘constitution of India’. Last but not the least in January, 1953 he was awarded ‘D.Litt’ (Honoris Causa)
by Osmania University, Hyderabad for his achievements, leadership and writing ‘the constitution of
India’.

Education for Dalits- Baba sahib delivered his speech at Milind Mahavidyalaya, Aurangabad in 1951
which is as follows- "Coming as I do from the lowest order of the Hindu Society, I know that what is
the value of education. The problem of raising the lower order deemed to be economic. This is a
great mistake. The problem of raising the lower order in India is not to feed them, to clothe them
and to make them serve the higher classes as the ancient ideal of this country. The problem of the
lower order is to remove from them that inferiority complex which has stunted their growth and
made them slaves to others, to create in them the consciousness of the significance of their lives for
themselves and for the country, of which they have been cruelly robbed of the existing social order.
Nothing can achieve this purpose except the spread of higher education. This is in my opinion the
panacea of our social troubles.” This speech reflects the entire mind set up of Ambedkar on the
lower order of the society, he emphasised on education, specifically higher education.
According to Ambedkar, education is directly proportional to the chances for progress and
opportunities for Dalits. He wanted to support the noble cause for Dalits by politics as he believed
that giving Dalits the tool of political power will automatically solve the problem of education. He
wanted a separate electorate for Dalits to achieve this goal but his dream for a separate electorate
for Dalits remained a dream. He devoted his time and abilities more to securing the political rights
rather educational upliftment. For him education was an instrument to liberate the dalits from
illiteracy, ignorance and superstitions and thus enable them to fight against all forms of injustice,
exploitation and oppression. He felt if the Dalits are educated then they could leave their traditional
occupation and take up secular occupations thus breaking the age-old caste based structure of
divisions of labour in our society.

“Character and religion v. education”- Ambedkar said that "An educated man without character and
humility is more dangerous than a beast. If his education is detrimental to the welfare of the poor,
the educated man is a curse to society... Character is more important than education." Thus, he
emphasised on the character build up by way of education as very crucial part as it justifies the soul
part of receiving education.

Dr. Ambedkar was of the opinion that "Education was a sword and being a double-edged weapon,
was dangerous to wield. It pains me to see youths growing indifferent to religion. Religion is not an
opium as it is held by some. What good things I have in me or whatever have been the benefits of
my education to society, I owe them to the religious feelings in me. I want religion but I do not want
hypocrisy in the name of religion". He rightly knew the importance of religion in education.

On Women education rights- The women of any country has an important contribution in the
progress of that country. Manu, has, therefore rightly remarked that God resides at the place where
women are worshipped. By worshipping it should be meant that women should be respected,
proper provision of education should be made for them and they should be provided freedom equal
to men in the society. The utmost expansion of women education is necessary for the achievement
of all sided development of India. When Ambedkar was twenty years old, he wrote a letter from
U.S.A. to one of his father's friends. In it he expressed his views about education of women. He
thought that the down trodden's progress would be greatly accelerated if male education was
pursued side by side with female education. Ambedkar once said- “I measure the progress of
community by the degree of progress which women had achieved. Let every girl who marries stand
by her husband, claim to be her husband’s friend and equal, and refuse to be his slave. I am sure if
you follow this advice, you will bring honour and glory to yourselves.” He was a staunch supporter of
women rights, their basic and necessary education and overall development. He was the one who
resigned from his post of the first law minister of India when the comprehensive Hindu Code Bill was
dropped by the Indian parliament. The bill had two main purposes – first, to elevate the social status
of Hindu women by giving them their due rights and second, to abrogate social disparities and caste
inequalities.

Conclusion - Educate, organise, and agitate — the principles propagated by the Father of the Indian
Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar was of the view that education is very important
milestone in one’s life for the progress. According to him people remain backward because they are
indifferent to ‘knowledge’ which will only ultimately help them to secure material needs of life. He
did not visualize education simply as a means for the development of a child's personality or as a
source of earning one’s livelihood. Rather, he considered education as the most powerful agent for
bringing about desired changes in society and a prerequisite for organised effort for launching any
social movement in modem times. Ambedkar himself was an example of what education could do to
the under-privileged section of the society. He was himself a benchmark for education in whole India
and abroad. The Columbia University, U.S.A. till date uses a text book for students which is itself a
twenty pages autobiographical story written by Ambedkar in 1935-36, titled “Waiting for a visa”, it
draws his experiences with untouchability, starting from his childhood.
Other than that Ambedkar being member of labour in the viceroy’s council from 1942 to 1946 was
instrumental in bringing several labour reforms. He was the one who changed the working hours
from 12 hours to 8 hours, in the 7th session of Indian Labour Conference in New Delhi in November
1942. He also introduced several measures for workers like dearness allowance, leave benefits,
employee insurance, medical leave, equal pay for equal work, minimum wages and periodic revision
of scale of pay etc. All these qualify indirectly as a catalyst for education of their children.

Reserve Bank of India was conceptualised according to the guidelines presented by Ambedkar to the
Hilton Young Commission (also known as Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance) in his
book, “The Problem of the Rupee – Its Origin and Its Solution.” Therefore he had a significant role in
establishment of the country’s central bank.
Owing to a number of educational developments in the country and proving that the dream of
education can be realised by anyone, if he gets right support and direction of his family, society and
government as a whole; Ambedkar should always be remembered as an “educational icon” for India
first and “dalit icon” later.