Apart from two master’s and Bar-at-Law, he had four doctoral degrees plus he knew several European languages (and quite a few Indian languages including Sanskrit). He also wrote the Pali language dictionary and was the first person from South Asia to have been conferred a Degree of Ph.D. in Economics. Dr. Ambedkar was only 24 years old when he wrote his paper on “Castes in India – Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development”. In his paper, he challenged many well-established scholars who had already written on caste.
What are Dr.Ambedkar’s educational qualifications?
Below is Dr. Ambedkar’s education history, starting with elementary education. It is almost impossible to state his extraordinarily vast educational experience. No wonder he is also popularly known as the “Symbol of Knowledge”
- Elementary Education, 1902 Satara, Maharashtra
- Matriculation, 1907, Elphinstone High School, Bombay Persian, etc.,
- Inter 1909, Elphinstone College, Bombay-Persian and English
- B.A, 1913, Elphinstone College, Bombay, University of Bombay, Economics & Political Science
- M.A, 1915 Majoring in Economics with Sociology, History Philosophy, Anthropology, and Politics
- Ph.D., 1917, Columbia University conferred a Degree of Ph.D.
- M. Sc 1921 June, London School of Economics, London. Thesis – ‘Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance in British India’
- Barrister-at- Law 30-9-1920 Gray’s Inn, London
- (1922-23, Spent some time reading economics in the University of Bonn in Germany.)
- D. SC Nov 1923, London School of Economics, London ‘The Problem of the Rupee – Its origin and its solution’ was accepted for the degree in Economics
- L.L.D (Honoris Causa) 5-6-1952 Columbia University, New York For his achievements, Leadership and authoring the constitution of India
- D.Litt (Honoris Causa) 12-1-1953 Osmania University, Hyderabad For his achievements, Leadership, and writing the constitution of India
Even though Dr. Ambedkar is well known as one of the greatest intellectuals of his time, ethics were more important to him than intellectual acumen because he knew that ethical people were more likely to be of greater service to society than mere intellectuals. If they were both, ethical and intellectual, that would be of the greatest value to humankind.
What makes Dr B.R Ambedkar even greater is that he came from the most humble background with an almost impossible task of rising to the heights that he did, eventually becoming the chief architect and chairman of the drafting committee of the Indian constitution, a symbol of knowledge and a champion of human rights. To begin with, Dr Ambedkar had nothing more than his personal qualities to rely upon and the most fantastic dream of liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice for all. His name will always be amongst the greatest in Indian history.
[ This article was appeared first in Global Ambedkarite and written by Anti caste Activist Shekhar Bodhakar ]