Eternal India Encyclopedia

EDUCATION

Eternal India

encyclopedia

a Hindu in her former birth. During her presidentship of the Theo-

sophical Society from 1907 till her death in 1933, she propounded the

revival of the essence of the

Gurukula

system of education and

harmonised it with the needs of the scientific spirit of the modem age,

thus developing the concept of the whole man. She asked, “What do

we find in modem India? An education directed to one part of the

boy’s nature only, developing the intelligence, training the intellect,

but leaving entirely on one side the spiritual nature and the moral or

the emotional nature, disregarded. Such an education can never build

up a true man of the world. What sort of a nation can you have where

the education given to its young is but one quarter of what it should

be?” She urged that once again learning must be inspired by the

ancient ideals which must be embodied in new forms. “Here is an

Indian ideal” she said, “that it would be well to revive in supreme

intellectual and spiritual achievement.”

While the Kangri ‘

Gurukula

’ of Swami Dayananda’s concept

remained in isolation and the other D.A.V. schools and colleges got

merged in the Western system as it happened in the case of schools

started by the Ramakrishna Mission and those of Annie Besant’s

scheme, there are three other outstanding personalities whose efforts

at Indianising education stand out vibrantly today. They are Gandhi,

Tagore, Aurobindo and now may be added Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Among the great souls that have brought a new era through their

unparalled unique impact on human society, Mohandas Karamchand

Gandhi, first called 'Mahatma Gandhi' by Rabindranath Tagore, and

truly hailed as 'the Father of the Nation' in India will be remembered

in history along with Christ and the Buddha. He saw life as a whole

and worked for upliftment of people in all spheres of life. His

influence has been the motive force for the liberation of many subju-

gated people of the world and his instruments Non-violence, Non-Co-

operation and adherence to Truth will stand as beacon lights for all

time in history.

In this article his contribution to one aspect which we may call

the core aspect of education is briefly discussed.

As a challenge to the twin problems - the problem of funding

and the problem of removing an irrelevant Western education system

foisted on India - Gandhiji with his deeply personal experience of

teaching children in the Tolstoy Farm in Africa, and in the Sabarmati

Ashram

in India, propounded a National system of education for

India. His scheme was discussed by experts at Wardha in 1937 and

accepted in its essentials. The details of the scheme were worked out

by a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Zakir Hussain, who

later became the President of India.

The scheme, which goes by different nomenclatures - the

‘Wardha Scheme', 'Nai Talim', 'Buniayadi Shiksha' - is officially de-

scribed as the scheme of ‘Basic Education’. The schools and Teacher

Training colleges based on this scheme were called 'Basic Schools'

and 'Basic Training Colleges' respectively. The granting of provincial

autonomy in 1937 brought Congress Governments in nine out of 11

provinces and the Basic Education scheme was accepted in toto. Vast

numbers of primary schools (stds. I to VII/VIII) were established or

the existing ones converted into Basic schools). Unfortunately, the

Second World War in 1939 brought a sudden change and the Con-

gress governments fell. However, Basic schools and Training col-

leges continued. Post-basic schools (High schools) were established

in a few places and university level Basic education scheme was also

developed but introduced only in three places, Gujarat Vidyapeeth,

Gandhi Gram (Tamilnadu) and Jamia Milia (Delhi).

Gandhi defined education as drawing out of the best in child and

man - body, mind and spirit. He had conceived it as a grand design for

a social change. He said, 'My plan to impart education through a

productive craft is conceived as the spearhead of a silent social

revolution fraught with far-reaching consequences.' The special fea-

tures of basic education are: (1) Literacy is not the end of education,

nor even the beginning. It is only one of the means whereby man and

woman can be educated. Literacy in itself, is no education. Gandhi

says, 'I would, therefore, begin the child's education by teaching it a

useful handicraft and enabling it to produce from the moment it

begins its training. Thus every school can be self-supporting, the

condition being that the State takes over the manufactures of these

schools. (2) Self-sufficiency, is therefore, the acid test of its success.

(3) Primary education should be equal to the matriculation less Eng-

lish. (4) A vocation or vocations are the medium for the all-round de-

velopment of a boy or girl and therefore, 'all syllabus should be

woven round' vocational training. This means that all knowledge and

skills and even attitudes related to them should spring from the

central handicrafts. The method of doing this is called 'correlated

technique'. Separate study of academic subjects was discouraged.

This was possible because in doing craft-work, Gandhiji insisted on

not doing the work mechanically, but on the spirit of inquiry to ask

and examine the why's and wherefores of all processes which gave

rise to all related knowledge. (5) Mother-tongue shall be the medium

of education.

Gandhi's views on "College education"

He said, "I would revolutionise college education and relate it to

national necessities. There would be degrees for Mechanical and

other engineers. They would be attached to different industries,

which should pay for the training of the graduates they need. Com-

merce will have its own colleges. Medical colleges should be at-

tached to certified hospitals." Agricultural colleges should be self-

supporting. Now arts colleges which turn out a large number of un-

employable persons should not be subsidized by government. Other

occupations should be on the apprenticeship models with factories

and workshops training students on the job.

However, the Gujarat Vidyapeeth and the Gandhi Gram which

were developed on Gandhian ideas, are not exactly maintained as

envisaged by Gandhiji, especially in matters of finanical support.

The tragedy of post-independence Indian education was giving

a decent burial to Basic education and sticking to examination cen-

tered Western academic model. Even the Kothari Commission (1964-

66) watered it down to 'craft' or 'work experience' as an appendage to

academic subjects. Since 'work experience' is not an examination

subject, that too is not in vogue. This marks almost the end of Basic

education.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Rabindranath was bom on 7th May, 1861 at the Jorsanko

Mansion of the Tagores at Calcutta as the fourteenth and the last child

of 'Maharshi' Devendranath Tagore. As a school - going child,

Rabindranath disliked the restricted and mechanical schooling methods.

His formal schooling was discontinued; but his education was continued

with private tutors to teach him. This was enriched by voracious