Profile of the Institute:

At the age of 71, with a strength of willpower befitting a young man, he started Lokbharati at Sanosara.

Inaugurated on on 28^th May, 1953 by Shri Kaka Saheb Kalekar, the great Gandhian, and based on the Sarvodaya principal of truth and non-violence, the Lok Bahrati Gramvidyapith is an ideal example that shows basic and higher education can contribute towards solving rural problems practically.

Founder Shri Nanabhai Bhatt

Basic education has to spread to even the lowest rungs of society, and this alone can instill a sense of humility in people. With this as the foundation, Lok Bharati imparts practical knowledge to its students which is suitable to the Indian psyche and culture, as well as useful to society at large. Not only is this basic education given free without any fee, the needy students are also given scholarships.

Shri Nanabhai said that Vidya which is biased, is burdensome, and that Vidya without  character is like knowledge of Brahma Rakshas. Therefore, he felt that it was important for students to stay in the campus hostel of Lok Bharati to acquire Vidya with character and fellow feelings.

  The aims and object of Lok Bharati are represented by its motto. Vidya or introspective knowledge of the self, and Avidya or knowledge and skills that one learns in life, must be taught together in a correlated based on practical, productive labour and social living together.

The absence of this kind of correlated education, has led to an almost dichotomous partition between the ‘classes’ and the ‘masses’ thereby weakening society. Unless correlated education is given to the vast majority of rural Indians, real democracy cannot exist. The current system of education, a British legacy, makes the education individualistic rather than social. Thus the educated individual is alienated even as lives among the uneducated masses.

The remedy for this social evil is to make hostel life the center of our educational plans. In a hostel, students learn to live and work together in harmony, doing useful, productive work on campus. Thus whatever knowledge and skills the students acquires is in the context of a close contact with society and its healthy development.

This is exactly the kind of correlated education that Lok Bharati strives to impart to its students, thus qualifying them for the practical experiences of life and society. An example of this is the study of the problem of water shortage, and the subsequent solution through conservation and economical use

Education is a continuous process. To maintain this continuity and foster a sense of national pride, the concept of community life lays emphasis on co-education, physical labour, education by mother-tongue, wearing of khadi, agriculture, gopalan, co-operation, and further given importance to subject like economics, science, philosophy and political for practical living.

Lectures are given by visiting expert and professors on a variety of subject. To import practical experience to students, relief work is done by students and staff alike during famines, floods, earthquakesand communal riots in distant parts of India such as Assam and Bihar. Culture festival are celebrate with an emphasis on social awareness.  

The family-like atmosphere of the institution has entire educational process free and fearless.

Shri Manubhai Pancholi

The uniqueness of LokBahrati lies in its educational system. In India, only technological education seems to have born some fruit. There are three major drawbacks of the traditional educational system. First, it is not practical as it is only service-oriented. This has given rise to the phenomenon of the educated unemployed, which is a contradiction in itself. Second, the traditional educational system tends to alienate the individual from society, with the result that bureaucracy becomes exploitative. Third 72 per cent of India’s population lives in the villages. production of primary and essential wealth takes place in the rural areas. Despite this, the educated are centred in urban India and they look down upon the rural poor.

 The country is thus sharply divided into two unconnected parts-the majority which is in the villages producing wealth, but without scientific knowledge of agriculture or dairy development, and the minority which is the educated traditionalist, who have no dailogue with or understanding of the other half.

Lok Bharati’s dream is to find a solution to this problem. Today’s education should be rural-oriented. It should be practical, socially relevant and less verbal and figurative. This would not be industrial education but practical education with reference to society. It should have compulsory residence with community life so that a sense of responsibility towards to society becomes natural. Social problems which exist today should be correlated to this education. And contact with economics, science, politics and philosophy should be emphasised. 

Man is essentially a two faceted being: one is a wealth producing being, and the other is a socially conscious and aware being. To make every man and woman an embodiment of this dual entity is the goal at Lok Bharati.

LokBharati Lokseva Mahavidyalaya

            Lok Bharati Gram Vidyapith’s main education section, Lokseva Mahavidyalaya gives a graduation after completion of a three –year course.

            Lok Bharati’s graduates have been prepared on the basis of the thinking of shri Manubhai Pancholi, that a graduate of Lok Bharati should be able to have detailed discussions on Vedant and quote Sanskrit shlokas, while farming in the fields. He should also be able to go to the market with a basket on his head and be able to sell vegetables without being cheated.

Some salient features of Lokseva Mahavidyalaya   

1.      In Gujarat, Lokseva Mahavidyalaya was the first institution to be granted autonomy by UGC.

2.      Balanced, practical and real life-oriented educated, integrated education is imparted through the mother tongue. English is taught to students as a vountry subject.

3.      Everybody is taught to take pride in physical labour by doing hands-on work for 250 hours per year.

4.      The emphasis is on rural-oriented education baked by research.

5.      Apart from 50 per cent marks for annual examination, the remaining 50 per cent is through internal evaluation.

6.      Freedom is given to the teachers to try various educational methods, and examination and evaluation systems.

7.      Instead of connecting post to salary of the staff, capability is taken as the criteria for salary payments.

8.      Three months placement internship programme during the third year of the educational course for students.

9.      Thurs, camps, lectures, cultural programmes, group discussions, demonstrations, film shows, interviews, etc. are organized regularly to help students develop an emotional bond  with the society they live in.

10.  Admission is on the basis of oral and written entrance tests.

11.  Lokbharati graduates are welcomed by universities for further higher education.