Our History
Like the legendary Trivikram, the Vaman Avatar of Lord Vishnu, Shri Nanabhai Bhatt took three steps that changed forever the face of Indian rural education.
First step: He left his prestigious professorship at? and diverted all his time and energy into establishing Dakshinamurti Vidyarthi Bhavan at Bhavnagar town (in 1910).
Second step: He left the prosperous Dakshinamurti which was in town and came to Ambla village, Dist. Bhavnagar (in 1938) to initiate the work of building pioneer rural higher education institutes in rural areas.
Third step: At the age of 71, with the strength and willpower befitting a young man, he started Lokbharti, the first institution of its own kind in country, at Sanosara village, Bhavnagar dist. (in 1953). Inaugurated by Shri Kaka Saheb Kalelkar, the great Gandhian on 28th May, 1953 the Lokbharti Gramvidyapith, based on the Sarvodayaprinciples of truth and non-violence, is an ideal example that shows how basic and higher education can contribute towards solving rural problems practically. Basic education has to spread even to the lowest rungs of Society, and this can instill a sense of equality and humanity in people. With this as the foundation, Lokbhartiimparts practical knowledge to its students which is suitable to the Indian psyche and culture, as well as useful to thesociety at large. Shri Nanabhai said that partial form of knowledge is burdensome and that knowledge without character is futile and destructive. Therefore, he felt that it was important for students to stay in the campus hostel of Lokbharti to acquire education with character building . The present education, has led to an almost dichotomous partition between the “classes‟ and “themasses‟ , thereby weakening the 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 students literate individuals rather than social humanbeing. Thus, the educated individual is alienated from the uneducated masses even though he depends upon them and lives among them. The remedy for this social evil is to make hostel life the centre of our education. In hostel, students learn to live and work together in harmony, doing useful productive work on campus. Thus whatever knowledge and skills the student acquires is in the context of a close rapport with life, society and its healthy development.
