Sriniketan

Mural by Nandalal Bose at Sriniketan

In 1921 Rabindranath Tagore bought a large manor house with surrounding lands in Surul, 3 km from Santiniketan, from the Sinhas of Raipur. He set up the Institute of Rural Reconstruction in the manor house, in 1922 with Leonard Knight Elmhirst as its first director. Rathindranath Tagore, Santosh Chandra Mazumdar, Gourgopal Ghosh, Kalimohan Ghosh and Kim Taro Kasahara joined Elmhirst.[5]

The second but contiguous campus of Visva Bharati was subsequently located around the same place in 1923 and it came to be known as Sriniketan. Silpa Bhavana at Santiniketan had already started training in handicrafts. Sriniketan took over the work with the objective bringing back life in its completeness to the villages and help people to solve their own problems instead of solution being imposed on them from outside. An emphasis was laid on a scientific study of the village problem before a solution was attempted.[5]

In consonance with such ideas about reconstruction of village life a new type of school meant mainly for the children of neighbouring villages, who would eventually bring the offering of their acquired knowledge for the welfare of the village community, was also conceived. Siksha-Satra was such a school set up at Santiniketan in 1924 but shifted to Sriniketan in 1927. The Loka-Siksha Samsad an organisation for the propagation of non-formal education amongst those who had no access to usual educational opportunities, was started in 1936. Siksha Charcha for training village school teachers followed next year. In 1963, an agricultural college was set up in Sriniketan and in 1977 Rural Research Centre was set up.[5]

Das Gupta, Uma (2022). A History of Sriniketan: Rabindranath Tagore's Pioneering Work in Rural Reconstruction. Niyogi Books.