Teachers’ Day 2023: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan!

TEACHERS’ DAY 2023: Since 1962, India has observed Teacher’s Day on September 5 to commemorate Dr. Radhakrishnan’s birthday. This day honours the renowned personality by valuing his ideals and celebrating teachers and their rights. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher, a powerful speaker, India’s first vice president, and the country’s second president. He made enormous contributions to education in order to bring about positive change in the country and improve people’s lives. Here are a few lesser-known facts about the influential leader.

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Lesser-known Facts About  Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

1. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s father, Sarvepalli Veeraswami, was a subordinate revenue official, and his mother was Sarvepalli Sita.
2. Dr. Radhakrishnan married at the age of sixteen. He had five daughters and a son with wife, Sivakamu.
3. He enrolled at Madras Christian College at the age of 17. He received his bachelor’s degree and his master’s degree in philosophy from the college in 1906.
4. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s bachelor’s thesis paper titled “The Ethics of Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions” received high accolades and was published when he was just 20 years old.
5. In 1918, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Mysore, and in 1921, he was appointed to the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta. Following that, he was appointed Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at the University of Oxford (1936-1952), making him the first Indian to occupy a professorial position at the university.
6. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan led India’s delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and was chosen chairman of the organisation’s executive board in 1948-49. From 1949 to 1952, he was also the Indian ambassador to the Soviet Union.
7. Upon his return to India in 1952, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was chosen vice president, and on May 11, 1962, he was elected president, succeeding Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president. Due to his frail health, he is the only President of India who was unable to attend the Republic Day parade.
8. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s prominent publications include Indian Philosophy, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, An Idealist View of Life, Eastern Religions and Western Thought, and East and West: Some Reflections.
9. In 1954, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan received the highest civilian honour in India, the Bharat Ratna. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 16 times and for the Nobel Peace Prize 11 times.
10. In 1931, King George V knighted him for his extraordinary contributions to education.