Title: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan - Bio-sketch.
Objective: To promote reference skills - collecting information from various sources selecting relevant details, deriving inspiration to rise high and writing bio-sketch correctly.
Step-I: Collect information about Dr. Radhakrishnan. You may include:
1. his birth (place and year).
2. his early life (family background, financial status).
3. his education and interests.
4. his professional priority - father's influence.
5. his growth from a teacher to the President of India and philosopher at world level.
6. his achievements.
7. his contribution towards Indian education.
8. his birthday celebrated as Teachers' Day in India.
Step-II : Imagine, a journalist has contacted you to provide information about Dr. Radhakrishnan to write a feature on him. What relevant facts you would include.
Step-III : Write a bio-sketch of Dr. Radhakrishnan based on the imformation you have collected.
Your bio-sketch should be in 4-5 paragraphs, grammatically correct and coherent.
Answers
Dr S. Radhakrishnan's Biosketch
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was a renowned Indian philosopher, statesman, professor, writer and educationist who brought India many laurels. This great spiritual soul has left such an indelible mark that it will remain as an eternal beacon of light for many generations to come. The feathers in his cap are many. He was the first Vice-President of India from 1952 to 1962; honoured the chair of the President of India from 1962 to 1967 as the second President.
He had an outstanding academic career and held many prestigious positions in various premier contemporary institutes. In April 1909 he taught philosophy at Madrass Presidency College. In 1918 he was appointed as Professor of Philosophy at University of Mysore. In 1921 he worked as a Professor of philosophy at University of Calcutta. Much honour came his way when he was invited to take the post vacated by by Principal J. Estlin Carpenter at Harris Manchester College. For his contributions to education he was knighted by George V in 1931. He also graced the chair of the the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. In 1936 Radhakrishnan was named Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College. That same year, and again in 1937, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from 1939 to 1948.
The Political Career of this great personality was as amazing as his academic career. Before rising to the Vice-president’s office, he held positions at League of Nations, UNESCO, and Ambassador to Soviet Union.
S. Radhakrishnan was a prolific writer also. He wrote many articles for journals of repute like The Quest, Journal of Philosophy and the International Journal of Ethics. ‘The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore’, ‘The Principles of Upnishads’, and ‘The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy’ are a few of the famous books written by him.
After he became the President of India, many of his students wanted to celebrate his birthday on 5th September as a big event. This humble man appealed to them to celebrate his birthday as Teachers’ Day.
This great soul breathed his last on April 17, 1975 after 86 years of unprecedented contributions to knowledge, education and rich Indian philosophy.