Bihar Vidyapeeth, founded by Gandhi, to be revived

 Bihar Vidyapeeth, the educational institution which was set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 and has been lying defunct since 1942, is likely to be infused a fresh lease of life.

The government is mulling over the proposal of National Institute of Open School (NIOS) to start vocational courses in the institute which is lying non-functional ever since the British seized the Vidyapeeth in 1942.

After starting Champaran Satyagraha in Bihar, Gandhi laid the foundation of Vidyapeeth on February 6, 1921 on a sprawling campus in western Patna. The institute came up on a land donated by eminent educationist, freedom fighter and lawyer Maulana Mazharul Haq.

The institution, which gave education in science and arts, besides imparting training in social works like weaving and stitching, was started as an initiative under civil disobedience movement to boycott British-run educational institutes.

When Gandhi started Quit India Movement, the British seized the Vidyapeeth in 1942 and since then the institute is non-functional.   

The government is now planning to start five vocational courses here. “These will include a one-year course in hotel management, nursing training, electric fitting, construction supervision and old-age care home training,” said a source in the NIOS.

A meeting in this regard was held earlier this month in which top Bihar officials reportedly gave, in principle, their nod to start vocational courses at the Vidyapeeth.

It may be mentioned here that veteran socialist late Jaya Prakash Narayan had studied here in the 1920s. Dr Rajendra Prasad was theprincipal of the Vidyapeeth. Maulana Mazharul Haq and later Braj Kishore Prasad (father-in-law of Rajendra Prasad) served Vidyapeeth as its vice-chancellor.