Father Gaston Roberge and the Question of Rethinking the Guru
Father Gaston Roberge devoted his life to teaching across all levels of the formal educational system—school, college, and university. Yet he chose to focus most deeply on the school, because the characteristics common to all levels of education appear most clearly in the school system.
A Brief Introduction about Fr. Gaston Roberge
Fr. Gaston Roberge (27 May 1935 – 26 August 2020) was a French-Canadian Jesuit priest, a pioneering film theorist, and one of the earliest champions of the film appreciation movement in India. With the wholehearted support of Satyajit Ray, he founded Chitrabani (1970), Eastern India’s oldest media training institute. He later established the Educational Media Research Centre at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata (1986), served as President of Unda/OCIC-India, and authored over 35 influential books on cinema, communication, and spirituality.
Having made India his home, he was honoured with a National Film Award (Special Mention) for Best Writing on Cinema in 1998, presented by President K. R. Narayanan. Roberge shared a close personal friendship with Satyajit Ray, one of world cinema’s most revered and influential filmmakers.
The Need to Rethink the School—and the Guru
Fr. Roberge observed that the teacher cannot be reimagined independently of the school system. The teacher is part of the system; therefore, any attempt to rethink the role of the teacher necessarily demands a rethinking of the school itself.
But this is no easy task. The school is only one among many institutions—political, cultural, technological, economic—that constitute modern civilization. While the ultimate aspiration must be the transformation of the school and eventually of society, Fr. Roberge insisted that the immediate task is far more intimate: to foster the human growth of children within the existing system. All social change begins with personal change. A teacher grows as a person only when he cares for the growth of the children entrusted to him.
Here he invokes Ivan Illich, who asserted in Deschooling Society:
Fundamental social change must begin with a change of consciousness about institutions.
Such change demands facing uncomfortable truths about educational, financial, political, military, and other institutions—but without hatred or violence. Even those who build and maintain unjust systems need a change of consciousness.
Christian Frings expressed it sharply:
The rulers are themselves being ruled by an anonymous force whose logic they do not understand.
Four Pillars for Rethinking the School
While limiting himself to the school system, Fr. Roberge highlights four areas that require new reflection:
- The Indian tradition of the guru, a deep reservoir of wisdom.
- Technology, which can reinforce the existing system or help transform it.
- The emerging computer culture, which changes how students learn.
- The crisis of the human, as society increasingly glorifies the intelligent machine over the human person.
Ultimately, rethinking the guru requires rethinking our very humanity—at a time when some voices proclaim the “end of man.”
Illich reminds us that at stake is nothing less than our way of life:
Man must choose whether to be rich in things or in the freedom to use them… He must choose between alternate styles of life.
—Deschooling Society, p. 66
A Recent Invention: The School System
Many are surprised to learn that the school system, as we know it today, did not exist before the late eighteenth century. After the French Revolution (1789–1799), the State replaced mutual schooling—a method in which students taught one another—because it was too efficient and not sufficiently under government control.
As Illich observed:
Only with the advent of industrial society did the mass production of ‘childhood’ become feasible.
—Deschooling Society, pp. 33–34
Anne Querrien’s work on mutual schooling (available only in French, as noted by Fr. Roberge) traces how this earlier system was gradually dismantled. Ivan Illich later revived the critique in the 1970s through Deschooling Society, calling for educational structures rooted in freedom and human dignity.
Mutual Schooling: A Forgotten Model
Two or three centuries ago, charitable schools in Europe—and even in India—experimented with mutual schooling. Poor children were taught to read, write, and acquire basic skills through a simple principle: any child who knew something could teach someone who did not. Teaching reinforced learning; discipline arose from the group rather than from external authority. Children progressed at their own pace, not according to a rigid timetable.
Ironically, mutual schooling’s greatest strength—its speed and effectiveness—alarmed certain administrators. Children finished too quickly, leaving authorities unsure what to do with them until they were old enough for work.
Illustrating the School System Through Mohabbatein (2000)
Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein provides a compelling fictional portrait of a tightly controlled educational institution. Narayan Shankar, principal of Gurukul for twenty-five years, champions tradition, honour, and discipline, banning romance and threatening expulsion for any breach of this code. Raj Aryan, the new music teacher, becomes the catalyst for a clash between rigid institutional authority and the human longing for love.
The stories of Sameer, Vicky, and Karan—each navigating love under severe restrictions—mirror Illich’s concerns about authoritarian educational structures, the denial of human spontaneity, and the suppression of personal growth.
Characteristics of the Modern School System
Fr. Roberge identifies several defining features—eighteen in all—of the modern school system, illustrated in the film:
- Childhood defined as a distinct phase of life.
- School as a production unit, aimed at producing “productive” adults.
- Mandatory attendance.
- Strict daily schedules that leave little personal freedom.
- Learning treated as duty, not an expression of personal desire.
- Age-based grading and classification.
- Teachers functioning as judges, ideologues, and doctors.
- Certification as a gatekeeping mechanism.
- Heavy bureaucratic and infrastructural costs.
- Bans on child labour—even when productive work might educate better.
- Schools shaping students’ worldview.
- Assumptions that education is the State’s responsibility and that learning depends on schooling.
- Fixed syllabi, ritualization of entry into society, rigid time schedules, confinement to enclosed spaces, and the inclusion of extracurricular activities as a small concession to student freedom.
These characteristics are vividly mirrored in Gurukul—from uniforms and assemblies to rigid discipline, controlled technology, emphasis on prestige, and the ritualistic nature of school life.
Illich’s words ring true:
For the child, the teacher pontificates as pastor, prophet, and priest.
—Deschooling Society, p. 38
Tradition, Architecture, and Symbolism
Your references to Longleat House, The Queen’s College, Oxford, and Shakespearean dramatic elements have been integrated smoothly. These details enrich the comparison by showing how Gurukul’s architecture and atmosphere evoke both Elizabethan grandeur and the ritual solemnity of a convent-like institution.
Tradition, the Guru, and Transformation
The Indian tradition of the guru appears in Narayan Shankar’s daily practice of Sūrya Namaskār, his emphasis on hierarchy and ritual, and his reluctance to break long-held customs. Raj Aryan’s gentle insistence on celebrating Holi, applying tika, and encouraging emotional openness reflects a more humanistic, expansive understanding of the guru–shishya bond.
The film’s climax captures Illich’s central insight: transformation begins with a shift in consciousness. Narayan Shankar’s eventual recognition of his rigidity and his public apology signal the possibility of institutional renewal grounded in human compassion.
His final words to the students summarise this awakening:
Life is about giving and receiving love, and nothing else… The old generation will have to change their old traditions so that a new generation can create a new tradition.
