Restructuring education on the basis of
Gandhi’s experiments and in the
context of the aspirations of the
new generation learners.
- N. Radhakrishnan
Ancient India gave us the goal of education as “Saa Vidya Yaa Vimukta the”—education is that which liberates.
By whichever name we may describe Gandhi’s views on
education and his sustained strivings from his South African days to the
historic Peace Mission in Noakhali followed by the heroic efforts undertaken by
him in Delhi to douse the fires of communal frenzy and orgy of violence until
he fell a victim to hatred, he was offering a
viable alternative to what we call ‘education’ and demonstrating new
praxis . Education to him is a liberating power and process for life, through
life and throughout life.
How much have we learned from Gandhi?, probably very little.
The many valuable insights about
education he offered and extremely important experiments he designed and
implemented revealing astonishing
results were all ignored by both his disciples and the nation at large for a
variety of reasons. As the American scholar Allen pointed out:”Educators can benefit greatly by studying
his formulations of the true goal of value education as liberation: providing
means for service to meet the needs of others, for liberation from all forms of
servitude and domination, and for one’s ethical and spiritual liberation.
Gandhi presents challenging insightful
formulations of basic and new education with regard to character building as
the goal of education. Gandhi is a moral idealist, and his reflections on
education do not emphasize intellectual development, but rather the primacy and
goal of developed human beings as moral beings. In various formulations, he
presents the goal of education as character building that focuses on the
development of courage, strength, fearlessness, virtue, and the ability to
engage in selfless work directed at moral and spiritual aims. He emphasizes the
centrality of work, vocational training, and productive manual labor, the focus
on real needs and simple living, the development of nonviolent relations,
greater emphasis on moral development than on usual intellectual development,
and a holistic approach that involves the integrated training of body, mind,
and spirit.”
(i)
Gandhi’s world vision and search for nonviolent
alternatives
“… my whole heart went
out to the millions of the children of the semi-starved villages of India, and
I asked myself…’is it possible for me to give them those lessons and the
training that are being given under your system?”,Gandhi asked while addressing
a Montessori school after observing the calm, self-directed orderliness of
children in a Montessori school. He was highly impressed by the Montessori-type
education and did not mince words to say that it was exactly the kind of
education he would like to see practiced widely in India.
This little-known statement of Gandhi also came handy to those who were highly
critical of Gandhi’s views and practices of education to convince the nation
that his own views and experiments in education were either out of date or
unsuccessful, hence we should turn to new models .
An activist-theoretician that Gandhi was , his views and
practices on education are to be looked
at from his world vision and intense search and strivings for nonviolent alternatives.
Gandhi’s views and approaches to
education offer significant challenges to the existing educational practices
and dominant theoretical formulations. The value of the creative alternatives
Gandhi offered was unfortunately lost in the din of debates and searches for
identity.
Gandhi has written extensively about
education and his writings include
hundreds of pages of critiques of the evils and deficiencies of British and
other modern educational models and his proposals for positive alternative
approaches. The little classic Hind
Swaraj Gandhi wrote in 1908 which
was promptly banned by the British for the alleged seditious views Gandhi aired in it invited
massive adverse criticism also even among his
close supporters.
Gandhi’s
search for alternatives begins
Gandhi had
begun his experiments in education much before he wrote Hind Swaraj . His bold initiatives revealed an unusual vision of new man and new society. He emphasized the
importance of education in community building as early as 1904 when he began
his community work in South Africa. His innovative, often unorthodox and controversial, educational experiments invited
sharp criticism while he learned from their success and failures.
His many experiments and reflections finally led to his Wardha Scheme of
Education, formulated at the educational conference held on October 22-23, 1937
in Wardha.This became known as the Nai
Talim or New Education. Gandhi’s Basic Education focuses on eight years of elementary
education.
Education
as an integral part of the Constructive Programmes
What many observers or critics of Gandhi failed to notice
was the fact New education initiated by him is an essential component of Gandhi’s famous Constructive Programmes that presents his positive moral and spiritual
vision for a new social order in independent India.
In
sharp contrast to Macaulay’s concept of education which prepared half-baked
babus for sarkari naukari and associates of colonial order Gandhi offered a
revolutionary concept of new education, Nai
Talim. He called it Jivanna-Sikshana
or Basic Education. He described:
This system is meant to transform
village children into model villagers. It is principally designed for them. The
inspiration for it has come from the villages. Basic education links the
children, whether of the cities or the villages, to all that is best and
lasting in India. It develops both the body and the mind, and keeps the child
rooted to the soil with a glorious vision of the future in the realization of
which he or she begin to take his or her share from the very commencement of
his or her career in school…. The object of Basic Education is the physical,
intellectual, and moral development of the children. Any scheme which is sound
from the educational point of view and is efficiently managed is bound to sound
economic. For instance, we can teach our children to make clay toys that are to
be destroyed afterwards. That too will develop their intellect. But it will
neglect a very important moral principal, viz, that human labour and material
should never be used in wasteful or unproductive way. The emphasis laid on the
principle of spending every minute of one’s life usefully is the best education
for citizenship and incidentally make Basic Education self-sufficient. (Gandhi 1949:62)
Gandhi viewed the
fundamentals of basic education in the following manner:
1.
All the education to be true must be self-supporting, that
is to say, in the end it will pay its expenses excepting the capital which will
remain intact.
2.
All education must be imparted through the medium of the
provincial language.
3.
In this, there is no room for giving sectional religious
training. Fundamental universal ethics will have full scope.
4.
This education, whether it is confined to children or
adults, male or female, will find its way to the homes of the pupils.
5.
Since millions of students receiving the education will
consider themselves as part of the whole of India, they must learn an
inter-provincial language. This common inter-provincial language can only be
Hindustani written in Nagari or Urdu script. Therefore, pupils have to master
both the scripts (Gandhi 1953b: 16)
He believed that:
Manual training will serve a double purpose
in a poor country like ours. It will pay for the education of our children and
teach them an occupation on which they can fall back in their later life, if
they choose, for earning a living. Such a system must make our children
self-reliant. Nothing will demoralize the nation so much as that we learn to
despise labour. ( Gandhi1955:60)
In this scheme, the hand will handle tools as it draws or
traces the writing . the eyes will read the pictures of letters and words and
also will know other things in life; the ear will catch the names and meaning
of things and sentences. The whole training will be natural, responsive and,
therefore, the quickest and cheapest in the world.
Primacy of the mind, the heart and the skill
to use one’s hands
Gandhi
believed that values can be instilled in a person only through a conscientious
practice and in children unless it is woven in their education process it will
be of no consequence. Education as practiced in the various schools and
colleges funded by Gandhi since the 1920s aims at developing three aspects of
the child: the mind, the heart, and the skill
to use one’s hands. The child knows with his mind, loves with his heart,
and creates with his hands. Unless we provide outlets for all these three, and
training in all these areas, the child has a lopsided education.
Gandhi did
not want to accumulate learning as many people accumulate assets or
riches-learning should not be for the purpose of being first or winning a
competition, at the expense of others. Rather than being
acquisitive/competitive, Gandhi wanted education to become cooperative. It should
prepare the individual to be lifted into a non-exploitative social structure.
The Basic
Education (or New Education- Nai Talim)
in its essential form fosters self-sufficiency. With that aim in mind, students
do their own laundry, work in the kitchen, sweep and scrub, practice gardening,
weaving, pottery, and carpentry as well as learn the three R’s and acquire
knowledge of essential academic subjects. In summation, Basic Education is:
1. Child-centred or learner-centred;
2. Dynamic;
3. Cooperative;
4. Nonviolent; and
5. Geared towards the acquisition of self-sufficiency.
Vinoba and other Sarvodaya thinkers developed it further as
follows:
1. Nai Talim is the integration of Jnana (knowledge) and Karma (Action) resulting in Ananda (Joy).
2. Nai Talim cannot be pursed keeping the social order of today as it
is. Nai Talim is based on the
principle of bread labour. It is a revolution in social values.
3. Nai Talim is the education for non-violence. It is founded on freedom
and mutual cooperation. The aim is freedom from fear.
4. Nai Talim is based on Swavlamban
or bodily needs, for independent critical thinking and acquiring complete
knowledge and for spiritual development.
5. Education should develop social consciousness among the
students, the attitudes and habits of doing work in cooperation with others.
6. The social principle of Nai
Talim is that all human lives are to be respected equally.
7. Education should be intimately and harmoniously related to
life and nature. Life without association with agriculture is incomplete.
8. The school should be organized on the model of a good
family.
9. The goal of education is discipline and character; not
self-indulgence but self-control.
10.
Nai Talim is never-ending
continuous process, always fresh. It varies from day-to-day, and from region to
region.
11. Nai Talim is not meant for the elementary
grades only. It is the character of every education. It’s not meant only for
the villages, but for everyone at all stages of life.
12.Nai
Talim is not an education method. It is not ‘activity education’. It is a creative idea, a way of life. It is a
approach. The alpha and omega of education is the quest for truth (Gandhi
1950:93).
Hind Swaraj and its importance in
understanding Gandhi
Gandhi had the vision of ‘a true system of education’ which
he had advocated in Hind Swaraj. He was sure that the family should be the starting
point, and Tolstoy Farm, the historic
settlement was run like a big joint family. Tolstoy Farm was one of the
communities started by Gandhi in Transvaal, South Africa, in 1910. The other
was Phoenix Ashram. These two communities became the
headquarters of Gandhiji’s satyagraha campaigns (non-violent resistance for
justice) which he led at that time. There was a common kitchen, which was
possible because those who were habitual meat eaters voluntarily gave up meat
during their time there. The woman took charge and the children regularly
helped them in turns. The whole community, adults and children alike, were set
to work on the farm, in the vegetable gardens, and in the workshops. Everyone
shared in the sanitation work, and there was carpentry and sandal making also.
With all this bodily exercise and simple healthy food, the children grew well
and there was very little sickness. It was the rule there that children should
not be asked to do things that their teachers did not do; teachers would work
with them at every kind of labour, so things went fairly well, even though it
was completely a new experience for all the children. Gandhi was clear about
three things: the children should live at home, they should not be separated
from their parents and sent to a residential school; they should learn in their
own mother tongue; they should not have any privileges which other children could not share. They live at home because
‘the education that children naturally imbibe in a well ordered household is
impossible to obtain in hostels’.
‘The intimate relationships of the home where’, Gandhiji
believed, ‘the foundation of all social and moral education’ and that was what
he regarded as of central importance. ‘I had always given the first place to
culture of the heart and the building of character,’ he wrote(Gandhi 1953a: 9).
Later, when Gandhi looked back on these years, he felt that
his children have been able to learn the meaning of ‘simplicity and a spirit of
service’ by growing up in a home where these things the young children of today
are deprived in the name of modern education.
Unfortunately, in a country like India, education becomes
the first casualty with every change at the political level too much of
tampering with education has been done. This explains why we have had so many
education commissions during the last 70 years since independence. And it has
assumed the level of a national tragedy when we painfully realize that after
many years of experiments we are back to square one, re-examining the Gandhian
alternatives now. Alas, that too half-heartedly!
The Rural Institutes : bold steps by the
government
The establishments of Rural Institutes
in 1957 was one of the major decisions of the government of India perhaps to
bring Gandhian principles in the policy frame and practice of education at
higher level. The Rural institutes were conceived to be a new system of
education with their focus on
integration of education with productive work
and preparing the young to face
the challenges of the country under transition through the blending of the
educational resources, academic excellence, spirit of inquiry, scientific and
technological advancement within manageable limits, extension and research,
mostly on the Western and American pattern of Community Colleges. It was even
the practice to confer the students Diplomas instead of Degrees which will
distinguish the graduates from the traditional graduates.
The emphasis was on character
development, skill formation and attitudinal changes, so much so a student of
the three-year Diploma Course for example, had to do, besides his optional
subjects and languages, compulsory courses in Art Appreciation, Story of
Civilization, Extension Education and Community Development and Hindi. In
addition to this, a student had to spend a minimum of three months during his
three-year period of study in villages, working with the villagers ; and trying
to identify themselves with the villagers. As a partial fulfillment of this
undergraduate course a dissertation had also to be prepared by every student. The courses were
thus very tough and were highly competitive. Still what made the courses
attractive and kept sustainable were the additional hours of work, the campus
life, the joyful participation of the students and staff in the programs.
(ii)
Education Centres as bridges and facilitators of social change
It was
definitely a bold experiment in offering a modified version of the Gandhian
dream of the Nai Talim at a higher level integrating Art,
Science, Music, Crafts, tools of development and citizen-making with
education.
The Rural Institutes started by the Government of India as part of
taking higher education to the very doors of village India for a time opened
new vistas of experiments in higher education and it generated considerable
hope and opened up vast possibilities. The
14 Rural Institutes situated in different parts of India, one each in the
states, rekindled visions of Gandhian education slowly getting some attention.These centres raised great
hopes all over India.
Integration of Art, Music, Crafts,
tools of development and citizen-making with education.
The Gandhigram Rural Institute near
Madurai started under the leadership of two veterans of the Gandhian era, Dr
G.Ramachandran and his wife Dr Soundaram achieved great heights as a Centre of
education for total development as Gandhi had wished. Several innovative measures
taken by this couple who had the benefit of being groomed by both Gurudev
Tagore and Gandhi attracted national attention and soon Gandhigram Rural
Institute became a great centre of Gandhian vision of education for holistic
development in practice.
A very important and attractive side
of the Gandhigram experiment was the campus life. Keeping in tune with the
Shantiniketan tradition of boys and girls, waking up early in the morning and
going round the campus, singing choral songs in praise of the gift of nature
and our duty to preserve nature at any cost as developed and successfully
implemented by Tagore both in Shriniketan and Viswabharati and called Prabhatpheri was an experience.
On their return from the Prabhatpheri
to the hostels at 5 a.m. they get themselves divided in batches. Some turn to
the cleaning of toilets and bathrooms, while a substantial number would be
working on cleaning the thoroughfares. A third batch would move into the
kitchen to take up cooking while another batch would be at the cleaning of the
vessels. There were no cooks, no cleaners, no scavengers and nobody to serve.
From preparing the menu to the purchasing of groceries and accounts maintenance
students managed everything under the guidance of staff- in- charge.
The spirit of service, camaraderie,
friendship, sharing, self-dependence which these programs fostered was
remarkable. There were plenty of scope for amusement, sports and creative expressions.
Three important items stood out in his context. There was what was known as the
Aam Sabha, the student's parliament,
which used to meet once every month regularly to debate on students' problems
without fear or favor. This constituted an exposure to democratic practices and
training in parliamentary procedures.
As one
who watched these students' parliament I was surprised to see the
dignity with which the students organized their assemblies, certainly with much
more sense of decorum and decency than the way present-day assemblies and
parliament are functioning.
Education for integration
Another attractive side of the campus
life was the spirit of unity fostered by promoting the cultural streams of
different segments of Indian society. Almost all the important festivals and
occasions connected with major religious groups were organized jointly.
Tagore's birth anniversary every year
was an occasion for a gala get-together and Bengali dance, Rabindra Sangeet,
Rangoli competitions, enactment of Tagore's plays, creative competitions,
exhibition of Tagore's paintings were the highlights of the programs on that
day.
There was a Kalabhavan which trained students in different fine arts including
theatre arts and crafts. The' Kalabhavan
became the nerve centre of highly creative programs and were managed at
different periods by eminent artists and scholars like Prof.
M.G.Gopalakrishnan, J.M.Duttta, artist S.P.Srinivasan,S.Ramanujam, G.Sankara Pillai ,
Abani Haldar --all distinguished academicians and artists of repute who hailed
from different parts of India. These scholars and artistes contributed greatly
to the emergence of an outlook among students which truly was egalitarian,
secular, democratic and definitely tolerant and understanding. The campus
became a nest of singing birds and all Saturdays witnessed cultural programmes
which showcased the rich cultural tapestry of India. A world-class artist and
film director like Sri Adoor Gopalakrishnan who was a student of Gandhigram
acknowledged his indebtedness to the kind of education that he received from
Gandhigram.
Training in Conflict Management,
Community Service, Relief work, and nonviolent leadership through Shanti Sena
Another pioneering aspect that attracted many visitors to Gandhigram
from different parts of India and abroad was the adherence to cultural
traditions and values and the manner in which they were sought to be promoted.
Mention may be made here about the Youth Organization, the Shanti Sena and the way Dr. Soundaram and G.Ramachandran tried
to integrate this as with the main education pattern and community life in
Gandhigram.
The idea of Shanti Sena, first mooted
by Gandhi in order to develop a body of unarmed soldiers of peace who would
rise above any kind of parochial or caste or religious considerations, would even be
willing to risk their lives to preserve life and property and would strive to
promote communal harmony, amity and peace in society during crisis and who
would work like a task force and undertake service programs on a regular basis,
did not receive much attention for quite some time. Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual
heir of the Mahatma and walking-saint who collected several thousand acres of
land and distributed them to the landless and the poor in this country and who
launched the revolutionary programs of Gramdan,
Jivan-dan and sampath-dan took up the idea of Shanti Sena and organized units
during his Bhoodan padayatra.
Gandhigram took up the Shanti Sena program in big way and made
earnest efforts to develop a comprehensive youth training program in nonviolence
and conflict resolution. G.Ramachandran himself initially took care of this
program and extended his full support to make this a very attractive program so
much so for a number of years the Shanti
Sena training program remained one of the most important attractive
programs of Gandhigram. GR would say often that Shanti Sena was his first love and
verily it was so.
The Shanti Sena did excellent relief
work under the leadership of Dr.Soundram in the sixties during the Rameswaram
floods and the Ramanathapuram communal clashes. In keeping the surrounding
villages clean and in the literacy drive before the Adult education programs
were launched the Shanti Sena did commendable work. Sri V.M. Chandrasekhar and
S.N.Subba Rao remarkable organizers of Shanti Sena made this body of students
an accomplished team of peace activists and social workers.
Perhaps I have a partiality for the
Shanti Sena program because from the day one I joined the Gandhigram Rural Institute in 1968, Dr GR
asked me to assist Sri Chandrasekhar as Deputy chief organizer and it was the
beginning of a new chapter in my life. My association with the Shanti Sena
during the next 21 years in Gandhigram and another ten years in Delhi offered
me opportunities to fully understand the infinite potential and scope of this
program if the program is comprehended and implemented correctly.
The training
programs we organized in different parts of India and abroad, the bold
initiatives of involving the students in conflict resolution activities during and after bloody communal clashes in
Kanyakumari, Theni, Uthamapalayam, Dhamapuri, Villupuram (all in Tamilnadu)
Punjab, Assam, Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir, Meerut and in Delhi have demonstrated
the firm belief of Gandhi and his disciple Dr G.Ramachandran that the youth trained in the marvel of
nonviolence could play very effective role as peace promoters.
Every visitor to Gandhigram found in the Shanti Sena not
only immense hope but they insisted on the experiment being duplicated.
Chairman of Indian Association for Universities said after his visit to GRI in
1986 that he would persuade the UGC to recommend introduction of Shanti Sena in
all the Universities.
Security personnel in Gandhicaps
The importance Gandhigram attached to the Shanti Sena could be illustrated here from
one example. The Shanti Sena volunteers used to be in-charge of the watch and
ward duty and management of crowd and taking care of discipline during the
visit of even the President or the Prime
Minister of the country to the campus in
those days. During the visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 the security
persons suggested that the PM security would be their responsibility and
students would not be involved in this. G. Ramachandran insisted on the Shanti
Sena as usual taking care of the watch and ward duty of the campus and he said
that no uniformed policemen would he allowed in the campus. The protocol and
the security people found this unacceptable and there was an impasse and the
matter reached the PM and he ordered that the tradition of the Gandhigram
Complex be maintained and their practice of not allowing policemen in uniform
be strictly adhered to and no violation of this be allowed. Hence as a
face-saving and practical step, plainclothes policemen wearing the Gandhicaps
and the white dress of the Shanti Sena volunteers were allowed to be present in
strength and be stationed wherever they thought they should be stationed. The
tradition continued until the 80’s.
On another occasion during the India-China
clashes the Government of India made N.C.C. compulsory in educational
institutions and the Gandhigram Rural Institute also received a circular in
this regard. G.Ramachandran replied to the Ministry that Gandhigram stood for
Gandhian values and hence Gandhigram Rural Institute would not be in a position
to implement the government instruction to replace the Shanti Sena with the
N.C.C. There was a prompt reply from the Secretary to the Government that those
institutions which failed to implement the order would forfeit all government
financial aid. G.Ramachandran was not a person who could be brow- beaten. He
replied that he would gladly close down the Gandhigram Rural Institute than
introducing military or paramilitary training in Gandhigram. The matter reached
the Prime Minister who again ruled that Gandhigram should be left alone.
The disappearance of Rural Institutes in other parts of India and GRI’s
survival
By the mid seventies the Rural
Institutes which were started with great fanfare and expectations in different
parts of India were facing crisis due to a number of reasons, the chief among
them being the fall in student enrolment and the other related to the apparent
failure of the experiment in the present form. The students who were studying
in these institutes were clamoring for degrees instead of diplomas which the
National Council for Rural Higher Education to which these fourteen institutes
in different parts of India were
affiliated to was offering. Secondly, under the agreement governing the Rural Institutes
fifty per cent of their total expenditure would come from the Central Government while the
remaining fifty would be met by the state government or the agencies which were running these
Rural Institutes. Several state governments did not care to honor this clause
while many institutes did not have the resources to meet even their share of
the twenty five percent. Thus the Rural Institutes found themselves to be
second class, neglected and uncared-for-centres of learning. The matter was
taken up at the highest level and these institutes were advised either to
affiliate themselves with the nearest Universities or to the State Agricultural
Universities.
Gandhigram Rural Institute was also
given this option. Here came in the redoubtable Dr G.Ramachandran. He stuck to
his guns and refused to toe the line suggested by the government. He pointed
out that it would not be possible for the GRI to compromise on its ideals after
having been party to an experiment for over 20 years. The Institute has
developed many models and it could not abandon its social commitment to the
surrounding forty villages where it was doing extension work and integrated
rural development. Hence he suggested to the government to accord the status of
a University to GRI. Nobody in the higher echelons were prepared to give any
serious consideration to this apparently 'outrageous' suggestion initially. By
that time all the other thirteen Rural Institutes had disappeared and
surrendered their special identity. GRI was also promptly advised by all
concerned to affiliate itself with the nearest University..
And finally when on August 7, 1976 the
Government granted the status of University to the Gandhigram Rural Institute
it proved beyond any shadow of doubt that the vision of a leader and
uncompromising adherence to what one considers dear would never fail. Thus the GRI became eligible for 100 percent
financial support on par with some of the Central Universities and Institutes
of Science and Technologies.
Traditional
Universities turn to Gandhigram experience
Thanks to Gandhigram Rural Institute’s
experience several universities became
convinced that a definite emphasis on extension, research and integrated rural
development, hitherto ignored by many universities in the country became the
core area of concentration in their focus and syllabus.
The assessment pattern was fifty per cent
internal and fifty per cent external with village placement and submission of
dissertation on the basis of a field study was made obligatory. The fifty per
cent internal marks, a revolutionary step at that time, was based on the
integrity of the teacher and the continuous assessment of the students on the
basis of their day-to-day performance. The idea was to eliminate what G.Ramachandran
would always say "the policeman's examination" and awarding marks on
the basis of one or two terminal examinations.
The courses were fully semesterised --again
a revolutionary step in the 70s when hardly any Indian University was willing
to take up such a step.
Gandhigram Rural Institute emerges as a Global Centre of Gandhian
education in practice
The Gandhigram Rural Institute with
its sixty years of experience now has
the potential to emerge as the Global Centre of Gandhian Education and
Sustainable Development. In this great effort Science, Technology , Literature
, Arts and Crafts, Spiritually etc. could become dependable allies in improving
the quality of life in several hundred villages around GRI and thus providing a
model University for the whole world.
( iii)
Lessons
from Gandhi’s experiments in education
Before we discuss this further we have
to ask ourselves: how is education viewed and treated today : a commercial
activity or as a process to enable children and teenagers or adults acquire
knowledge and skills required in their life? A seeming contradiction of ideas
and a lurking selfish motive is discernible in the present system. As a nation,
have we since the last 70 years taken a national view on our education?
Cosmetic changes, yes. Have we fully shown our desire to throw away the British
System which they themselves have revised suitably and admirably in their
country? We have forgotten the simple truth that those nation which are
dominating today in various fields, began their march towards modernization and
progress by restructuring their education system suitably.
Education, according to Gandhi should
become a tool, a mighty adventure of nation building and shaping the
character of younger generation.
It is a fact this nation did not take
Nai-Talim of Gandhi seriously due to several factors. Vinoba Bhave, a great
revolutionary-thinker and activist who knew the mind of the Mahatma was very
candid when he said, “Nai Talim is not a system,
it is a far-reaching educational idea, it is a seed- thought, like the Brahma-vichar which was formerly so wide
spread in India and in which so many different systems of thought-advait, dvait,
visisht-advait and so on-were all rooted.”
It is over one hundred years since
Gandhi began experimenting his ideas on
education. Both the admirers and detractors of Gandhi seem to have ignored a
fact about Gandhi during this period: that he continuously evolved new
strategies, absorbed new ideas, gave up many as he came across new truths
inviting charges that there are inconsistencies and contradictions in his stand
on many issues. Gandhi would have revised many of his views had he been alive
in conformity with the changes in society.
It is unthinkable for many Gandhi disciples
and scholars to revise or resile from
certain positions and they consider it is irreverential to criticize him. Gandhi admitted that he erred many a
times and admitted that he committed Himalayan blunders.
We very often forget the fact that Centres
of education by whichever name they are known and irrespective of their
focus should undergo a metamorphosis
into community centers of excellence which
will offer opportunities to students, staff and community outside to interact
and enrich on the larger issues of life as Gandhiji wanted such centres to be.
A question arises here naturally: what
would be the role of institutions of learning
and research under such circumstances? Are they to remain silent on the burning
issues which are corroding the social, religious and political fabric of the
society in whose well-being Universities and institutions of higher learning
have a role to play?
Besides acting as the repository of knowledge
and disseminating agency, education institutions should act like bridges
between the academic world and the society.
The society around the University also
should be the social laboratory of the school/university. Instead of looking at
the various problems compartmentally, they should strive to look at social change from
its totality and the role it can play in this crucial area is that of a
dedicated facilitator. This would not be possible unless meaningful extension
activities in accordance with the needs of the society are drawn up and
implemented with dedication and courage of conviction.
Should not Centres of Education, research,
planning, extension and out-reach activities become entwined with the lives of the
people? Every pie spent should bring back new returns in terms of the
rejuvenated life of the common people which alone is the ultimate aim of all
education.
·
Contextualise Basic Education
programme
·
There is an urgent need for
overhauling the present system of education.
It may not be possible to uproot the present system and replace it with
the education based on Nai Talim.
·
However, one must start
with institutions based on these principles and provide an alternative to the
present system, so that people may have an option to opt the system that suits
them. It would definitely to go to a
long way in developing a convincing attitude among society members for the so
called alternative system thereby enhancing the acceptability of the society.
·
There may not be uniform
system of education throughout the country.
However, there must be broader frame-work within which local specific
individual models may be developed for the basic education.
·
The broader framework to be
developed should be based on Gandhian philosophy and principles of Nai Talim.
·
Teacher training programme
should be intensified with a focus on changing the mindset of the teachers and
developing effective transactional skills along with.
·
Teachers to be prepared
through vibrant and living experience to function as a role model.
·
Emphasis should be given to
resource based learning process to ensure effective partnership between the
community, parents and the school faculty including student population.
·
Enterprising community
through education and drawing rich experience of the community for enrichment
of school programme. For this, there
should be advocacy campaigns. Teachers
will have to play a major role in bringing community closer to the schools, and
also in the process raising funds for running the institutions.
·
Education that aims at the
development of Head, Hand and Heart should form the basis for chalking out the
objectives, strategies, curriculum etc.
·
It would be the
responsibility of those devoted and committed to Gandhian philosophy and having
faith in principles of Nai Talim to run and popularize such type of
institutions so that slowly they may take over those run on present philosophy.
·
Central and state governments
both should be persuaded to come forward for funding such type of
institutions. Government should help to
build model schools as role models of experiments to draw their experiences in
the field.
)
·
Most important, Gandhi’s
reflections on peace education should serve
as a challenge and a catalyst for rethinking dominant positions and have more
value for significant philosophical refection than most mainstream “academic”
philosophy.
·
The
University Grants Commission and the Human Resources Development Ministry
expect the Universities to become the harbingers and promoters of social change
laboratories by reconstructing and refocusing their programs to meet the
challenges by adopting revolutionary methods
·
Schools,
Colleges and Universities are no longer the sole repositories or centers of
learning. Commercialization of education and mushrooming of educational
institutions, have added a new dimension. Spread of liberal education and
compulsory state-sponsored education, while have been found to be useful in the general context, a certain
kind of gulf seems to be developing between the schools directly under state
and those run by private institutions. A large number of schools have become
"Information Pumping Centers" (IPC) rather than centers which shape
the character of children.
Gandhi who admired the Montessori system
was conscious of societal values and
class room objectives. His constant endeavors to facilitate children’s
emergence as autonomous spiritual beings and not as robots of elder’s fancy have opened of late new discussions. His advocacy to free
the child from the tyranny of text books and make learning an enjoyable process has now many takers. The demand for a shift
from the teacher-centred- text book-centred- student centred-
examination-centred education pyramid is
becoming louder and louder.
With Gandhi the role of the five stakeholders and
promoters of what is perceived as
education namely , child--family—school—teachers
and society has acquired a new meaning
in the restructuring of education to
suit the demands and challenges of a fast-changing generation who defies all
traditional notions .
The value creating educational
practices of the Soka Ghakkai
We may also learn from what is
happening around us in the field of education particularly, in different parts
of the world. Very meaningful and highly creative experiments in education
right from kindergarten right up to the university level are being carried out
to link the principal stake holders of what we consider education. It has to be
both liberating and value creating in every sense of the term as the Soka
educational system led by Dr.Daisaku Ikeda, president of Soka Gakkai
international are doing now in different parts of the world through their
network of Soka educational institutions.
What is required under the emerging
scenario is patience to listen while
formulating policy perspectives. Perhaps
the caution Montessori issued “ the erroneous belief has persisted that
it is the duty of the adult to fashion the child according to the pattern
acquired by society” has to be kept as a valid guideline.
