Mahatma Gandhi’s Thoughts on Education
Dr.Shubhangi Dinesh Rathi
Associate
Professor &
H.O.D. Political Science
Smt.P.K.
Kotecha Mahila Maha.Bhusawal
Dist.
Jalgaon (Maharashtra)
Abstract:
Education
was one of the several planks of his larger civilization agenda. In which the
independence of India was the main thrust. Gandhi’s educational ideals
were thus meant to transform backward, illiterate, exploited, desperately poor
peasants into self-confident and self-respecting citizens of a new community
and nation. So in this paper discuss on Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts on
education & his policy.
Introduction:
Gandhi
was elitist and most practical of our major educational thinkers of this
century. Gandhi’s idea of culture can be summed up in his reply of to
Rabindranath Tagore: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and
my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be
blown about my house as freely as possible. I refuse to live in other people’s
houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave,” (Young India 1-6-21)
Objectives:
·
To understand Gandhiji’s view on Education
·
To know Mahatma Gandhi’s educational structure & philosophy
·
To make awareness among the peopole
Wardha Conference:
The
Wardha conference was held on 22nd and 23rd October 1937 under the auspices of
the Marwari Education Society at Wardha. Jamnalal Bajaj was the President
of this Society. Which held the conference to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of
the society and of the Marwari High School of Wardha? The idea was to
give Gandhi a national platform to launch his ideas of education. Gandhi was the
President of the conference. In this conference well-known educationists and
ministers B. G. Kher, Premier of Bombay Presidency, Zakir Hussain, Principal of
Jamia Millia, Delhi, P. Subbarayan, former Minister for Education, Madras,
Viswanath Das, former Minister for Education, Orissa, Ravishankar Shukla,
former Minister Educationa Minister, Central Provinces, Jamnalal Bajaj, J. C.
Kumarappa, Kakasaheb Kalelkar, and a number of other eminent educationists and
associates of Gandhi were attended.
Educational Agenda:
Most of
Gandhi’s important writings on education have been compiled and edited in two
books. Those books are Basic Education (1951) and Towards New Education (1953). Those
are written by Bharatan Kumarappa. These writings are mostly miscellaneous,
consisting of letters, speeches, extracts from books. The most significant
single document in all of Gandhi’s writings on education is probably the
Inaugural Address that he delivered at the Wardha Conference of 1937. This is known as philosophy of education.
The Agenda, formulated by
Gandhi, contained four propositions, which may be summarized as follows:
1. The present system of education does not
meet the requirements of the country.
2. The course of primary education
should be extended at least to seven years and should include the general
knowledge gained up to the matriculation standard, less English and plus a
substantial vocation.
3. For the all-round development of boys
and girls all training should as far as possible is given through a
profit-yielding vocation.
4. Higher education should be left to
private enterprise and should be to meet national requirements whether in the various
industries, technical arts, belles-letters or fine arts (Varkay 3-4).
At
the conclusion of the conference, four Resolutions were adopted. These
had been proposed by a committee, which worked through the night, under the
Chairmanship of Zakir Hussain.
The Resolutions were:
1. Free and compulsory
education is provided for seven years on a nation-wide scale.
2. The medium of instruction is the
mother-tongue.
3. The process of
education should centre on some form of manual and productive
work....
4. System of
education be gradually able to cover the remuneration of the teachers (ibid
5-6).
Syllabus formed by Committee:
Afterwards
a committee was formed to design a
suitable syllabus and to submit its report to Gandhi. This report was
submitted in December 1937. Thereafter, a second Report was published in
1938, with detailed clarifications and replies to objections raised against the
first Report. This second Report contained detailed syllabi for three
subjects, or crafts as Gandhi would have preferred to call them:
agriculture, spinning, and weaving.
Of
course, we need to remember that Gandhi’s views were grounded in a larger
perspective which might be termed anti-industrial, if not anti-modern. As
Kumarappa puts it, Gandhi “was convinced that machine civilization ...
brought enslavement and exploitation of vast sections of a nation and of
industrially backward peoples” (Basic Education iv).
Gandhi’s Educational Philosophy:
Gandhi’s
educational philosophy as outlined above, reducing them to the following
cardinal postulates:
·
Education means all round development; it is best obtained through
action.
·
Education has to be through a craft, not merely through books and
abstractions.
·
The basis of true education is character building; an educated
person should become an ideal citizen.
·
Education should be self-supporting as far as possible and also
equip the pupil to better his own economic conditions.
·
Education should be based on non-violence and should work for
communal harmony.
·
The medium of instruction should be the mother-tongue, not
English.
·
Primary education should be free and compulsory for all children
and should last for at least seven years.
·
All educational planning should be undertaken with the rural
Indian masses in mind; in other words, education should not be elitist, but
popular in its character.
Nature of
Gandhiji’s Educational System:
Gandhi’s proposal intended to stand the education system on its
head. The social philosophy and the curriculum of what he called ‘basic
education’ thus favored the child belonging to the lowest stratum of society. In
such a way it implied a programmed of social transformation. It sought to alter
the symbolic meaning of ‘education’ and to change the established structure of
opportunities for education.
He was also of the opinion that manual work should not be seen as
something inferior to mental work. He felt that the work of the craftsman or
labourer should be the ideal model for the ‘good life’. Schools which were
based around productive work where that work was for the benefit of all were,
therefore, carrying out education of the whole person - mind, body and spirit.
Conclusion:
Lastly we can conclude
that, Gandhi’s basic education was perception of an ideal society consisting of
small, self-reliant communities with his ideal citizen being an industrious,
self-respecting and generous individual living in a small cooperative
community. We can draw out a number of useful pointers in it. Gandhi’s
insistence on autonomy and self-regulation is reflected in the ethos of
informal education. Gandhi’s conception of basic education was concerned with
learning that was generated within everyday life which is the basis on which
informal educators work. It was also an education focused on the individual but
reliant on co-operation between individuals. There is also a familiar picture
of the relationships between educators and learners. It was an education that
aimed at educating the whole person, rather than concentrating on one aspect.
It was a highly moral activity.
References:
1. Gandhi M. K. (1951) Basic
Education: Bharatan Kumarappa, ed.: Navjivan publication, Ahmadabad
2. Gandhi M. K (1984)
Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule: 1909; Navjivan publication,
Ahmadabad
3. Gandhi M. K (1953)
Towards New Education: Bharatan
Kumarappa, ed. : Navjivan publication, Ahmadabad
4. Varkey, C.J. (1940) The Wardha Scheme of
Education: An Exposition and Examination; Oxford University
Press,Madras
·
The Sarvodaya Movement makes a sincere
and bold attempt to create the necessary atmosphere to bring together such
individuals with an unwavering faith in the Welfare of All
·
The gain to the individual would be
small. The development of each quality depends upon every other. If all the
qualities are improved a little, then the individual would gain more.
·
Just as a child legs, fingers, ears, in
fact all the parts of the body grow together into a man, so a man’s potential
must develop harmoniously in all directions.
·
When a balloon is blown up all the parts
of the skin must stretch together or else the balloon will be distorted. So, man’s
all qualities must be developed together.
·
Families, groups, villages and towns are
composed of individuals. So too, the potential of families, groups, villages
and towns must develop simultaneously and harmoniously in all directions.
The
life-giving environment of a fish is water. It supplies a fish with all it
requires. Man’s environment is other men and their work. A fish living in
impure water does not develop its potential to the full. So, a man living in an
environment contaminated with hatred, violence, distrust, competition and
selfishness does not develop his potential to the full.
A
fish living in pure water can develop its potential to the full. So too, a man
living in an environment filled with compassion, non-violence, mutual trust,
co-operation and selflessness can develop his potential to the full.
The present of the motive production
is profit to the producer, but in the Sarvodaya Society production is meant for
consumption and all will derive benefits. The desire to grab and get on as we
find today will yield place to concern for others and mutual sharing. Land and
other types of property will exist for the good of one and all.
Sarvodaya Movement:
Gandhi's ideals have lasted well beyond the
achievement of one of his chief projects, Indian independence (Swaraj). His followers in India (notably,
Vinoba Bhave) continued working to promote the kind of society that he
envisioned, and their efforts have come to be known as the Sarvodaya Movement.
Anima Bose has referred to the movement's philosophy as "a fuller and
richer concept of people's democracy than any we have yet known."
Sarvodaya workers associated with Vinoba, J. P. Narayan, Dada Dharmadhikari,
Dhirendra Mazumdaar, Shankarrao Deo, K. G. Mashruwala undertook various
projects aimed at encouraging popular self-organisation during the 1950s and
1960s, including Bhoodan and Gramdan movements. Many groups descended from
these networks continue to function locally in India today.7
Sometime after his death, the mantle of leadership
of the Gandhian fraternity fell on late Acharya Vinoba Bhave. It was he who
found that if Gandhiji’s entire philosophy is to be described in one word, then
Sarvodaya was the most appropriate word. Later on, he also conceived the idea
of a loose fraternity of believers in truth and non-violence as Sarvodaya
Samaj. When Shri Jayaprakash Narayan joined the Gandhian fraternity, he was
also greatly instrumental in popularizing the expression, Sarvodaya, i.e.,
“Good of all.” Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of transforming
India into such a Ramrajya after
liberation of the country from the yoke of British rule. But, unfortunately, soon after India’s
independence, the life of the Father
of our Nation was cruelly ended by an assassin’s bullet.
An
ideal of Sarvodaya is Stateless Society Vinoba Bhave, the chief exponent of
Sarvodaya, spoke to establishing a society in which people are free from
exploitation and oppression, Sarvodaya is against the state in the present
form, even if it tries to prompt social welfare, as is based on methods of coercion.
As well as they are apposed to democracy as a form of government prevailing in
countries like Britain, USA, and India, as it is based on the party system. The
party system is an evil, as it breaks people in to groups, compels them to
conspire against one another and gives rise to the tyranny of the majority.
Representative democracy, as it prevails now, is not truly representative; only
the majority is represented and the minority which is sometime substantial is
left out. Their will be a loose federation of autonomous village, in which
there is almost self-sufficiency.
Conclusion:
So,
lastly we can conclude that Sarvodaya is an agency of Service for Common Welfare
Sarvodaya sets its face squarely against the politics of power and
exploitation. It lays great emphasis on moral and spiritual values. It seeks to
create new social and economical values. The concept of possession yields place
to the concept of trusteeship. People will work for the good of all and family
feeling will animate the entire community. There will be fullest scope for
freedom, fellowship and equality.
The
state is to be an agency of power. Gramrajya is a base of non-violence.
Sarvodaya stands for good of all and not for the good of any particular
individual or class. Bhoodan at the early stage, Gramdan at a later stage and
Sampattidan will bring about a change of heart. The rich and poor will give up
their ideas of attachment to private property and will strive to work for the
good of all.
But
reality is Sarvodaya ideals are not
practicable. Though the ideals of sarvodaya will be noble.Nobady can find fault
with them, in the actual world. They will be found wanting. It will be almost
impossible to establish a society strictly on the basis of great principles by
Mahatma Gandhi and others. Sarvodaya doctrines are soaring and it is doubtful
whether they can rest on the earth. The poor record of Panchayat Raj in India
bears testimony to the backward condition in which people are.In the highly
competitive world, one country can not succeed in having Gramraj.Unless all
states in the world accept the Sarvodaya idea. The chances of having it is a
particular country like India are bleak. As well as, it is difficult to bring a
change of the heart in the human being, who is given to selfishness. People donated
useless land in response to the Bhoodan.
So,
need of the present era is ‘Act Locally and Think Globally’
Note:
1.
Bondurant, Joan. Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict.
(Princeton, 1958) p 156.
2.
Autobiography,
part IV, chapter xviii.
3.
Ibid.
4.
See Bondurant (1958), pp. 156-159.
5.
Bondurant (1958), chapter 5.
6.
B.K.Gokhale: Political Science ( Theory
& Govt. Machinary);Himalaya Publishing House
8. R.P.
Mishra: Rediscovering Gandhi; Volume I: Hind Swaraj-Gandhi’s Challenges to
modern Civilization;page 11
Reference Books:
I.
M.K.Gandhi: Village Swaraj;Navjivan
publishing House,Ahamadabad
II.
R.P. Mishra: Rediscovering Gandhi;
Volume I: Hind Swaraj-Gandhi’s Challenges to modern Civilization;Concept
Publishing Company, New Delhi
III.
J.C.Kumrappa:Economy of
Performance;sarva Seva Sangha Prakashan,Rajghat;sixth Edition 1997
IV.
B.K.Gokhale: Political Science ( Theory
& Govt. Machinary);Himalaya Publishing House
VII.
GANDHI ON SARVODAYA (UNIVERSAL WELFARE) Seminar: January
17, 2004Dr. James Tepfer (jtepfer@hotmail.com)
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