Why Did Mahatma Gandhi Think That English Education?

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Why Did Mahatma Gandhi Think That English Education
Mahatma Gandhi thought that English education had enslaved Indians because colonial education created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians. It made them to see western civilisation as superior and destroyed the pride they had in their own culture.
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How According to Gandhi English education has enslaved us give any five points?

It made them see Western civilization as superior and destroyed the pride they had in their own culture. There was poison in this education, said Mahatma Gandhi, it was sinful, it enslaved Indians, it cast an evil spell on them.
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Who said that English education has enslaved us?

Mahatma Gandhi’s View According to Mahatma Gandhi, ‘English Education has enslaved us’. He urged that colonial education creates a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians.
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What were Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about education?

Gandhi’s concept of education and its ethical perspectives for the development of peace By Dr. Akham Hemabati Devi Gandhi was a utopian; he tried to bring ‘the Kingdom of God on the earth (Ram Rajya) where truth and non-violence would be guiding principles.

His utopianism arose out of his love for humanity. “Gandhi was humanist, shall we say from the first moment of his self consciousness.” 1 He firmly believed that the goodness of the individual formed the constituent part of the goodness of the society. Like John Ruskin, he considered ‘man’ is the most important to bring a peaceful and harmonious society.

He says, “The individual is the one supreme consideration.” 2 “Man is neither mere intellect, nor the gross animal body, nor the heart or soul alone. A proper and harmonious combination of all the three is required for making of the whole man and constitutes the true economics of education.” 3 His concept of political system is closely connected with education.

  • In a good political system, there must be the element of goodness necessarily present in every man.
  • There is the need of a proper education system to the individuals in order to bring out such element of goodness.
  • He talks about education is more comprehensive than that of the literal meaning.
  • He says, “By education I mean an all round drawing out of the best in child and man-body mind and spirit.

Literacy is not the end of education not even the beginning. It is one of the means whereby man and women can be educated. Literacy in itself is no education.” 4 He thought that education is closely associated with the socio-economic development of the society.

  1. He took up scheme for basic education in which vocational training or work experience is the utmost important.
  2. It is due to the fact that it stimulates the human mind for creative thinking or dignity of manual labour.
  3. He thought that such creative thinking should be taken up from primary to higher level education.

His view on basic education is greatly influenced by his philosophy of satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), firm belief in God, dignity of labour. The Kothari Commission also followed Gandhi’s ideal of vocational training in education. This commission says, “We recommend that work experience should be introduced as an integral part of all India education-general or vocational.

  • We define work experience as participation in productive work in school, in the home, in a workshop, on a farm, in a factory or in any other productive situation.” 5 This commission re-emphasizes the Gandhian principle of learning by doing in the modern education.
  • The main aim of education is the development of human personality.

He expanded fourfold personality in the individual that is body, mind, heart and spirit. True education stimulates the spiritual, intellectual and physical strength of the individual. His view on education of heart which brings the idea of sympathy, fellowship and deep feelings of love.

The aim of education is not only to produce good individual but also one must understand one’s own responsibilities in which one lives. It is closely related to Hindu concept of varnashram dharma. One who understood his or her responsibilities would lead to the spirit of social consciousness and social mindedness.

Then, all the activities of such persons will have a social content as well as co-operation to others. He talks about education in terms of discipline. It is regarded as one of the most important parts and parcels of education. Without discipline, the sound education system is impossible.

It is a quality that one’s self can lead to the regulation of one’s intellectual, moral, spiritual and social behaviour. It is stated that the goal of education consists of character-building. Such character-building requires the moral, intellectual and social behaviour under all circumstances i.e., strength of personality, the virtue of compassion, kindness, fair-mindedness and the spirit of dedication.

Gandhi strongly holds that education is not end in itself but it is the most powerful weapon which creates all persons of genuine characters. There is degeneration of education when the qualities of truthfulness, firmness, tolerance are absence from it.

True education is life process which helps in cultivating the spirit of co-operation, tolerance, public spirit and a sense of responsibility. All these qualities are considered as disciplines for the development of human personality. Such disciplines can create the harmonious balance between the individuals and social aim of education.

His principle of ‘learning by doing’ tries to stimulate the individual’s mind to think creatively, independently and critically. His great emphasis on work-culture to the students from the primary stage to higher stage is to enable the students to start producing from the time he started his training.

So, his primary information of basic education is Head, Heart and Hand rather than Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Gandhi also maintains that education is essential for the attainment of the goal of peace. It can be attained only through morality and ethics. According to Gandhi, education is the realization of the best in man – body, soul and spirit.

He maintained that education must be based on ethics and morality. Ethics and morality are integral to Gandhi’s life. All his thoughts, actions and speeches are based on these two concepts. From the ethical perspective, education may be considered as a means of attainment of salvation.

It helps to the path of the complete peace. Peace is the absence of violence and hostile thought. As a daily practitioner of non-violence, Gandhi right from his earlier stage considered that non-violence is an indivisible, important and essential part of education. We cannot be separated education from ethics, morality and spiritualism.

For this purpose Gandhi has given some rules for all students so as to ensure that morality and righteousness always be considered as an essential part of their education. Regarding this, such rules can make to right thinking, self-control, service to the society, respect to others and constant awareness for their duties and responsibilities.

  • Today, the world is suffering from immense crisis from many sides.
  • Crimes, conflict, hatred and distrust between one community and another, hunger, unemployment, poverty and literacy, paucity of resources and pollution of environment, deforestation and desertification, swelling number of migrants and refugees, ethnic and sub-national violence, terrorism, drug trafficking, AIDS etc., all these altogether make a grave danger to peace.

The present day crisis is greater than the crisis that occurred during the time of Gandhi. The world is now full of violence. With the advancement of science and technology human being has invented many new technologies which are very helpful in our life.

  • In some other ways, some selfish people who used it as a weapon for gaining his desire wish and pleasures.
  • An action done under the motives of selfishness is a kind of violence.
  • Purity of means is an essential condition of realizing good ends.
  • If a good end is to be attained, it is also essential that the means adopted for the realization of the end is also good.
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He says, “if one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself.” 6 End and means are the two important concepts in Gandhian philosophy which play very important implication for his doctrine of truth and non-violence. His principle of aparigraha is one of the most important to bring simple and peaceful living, co-operation with one another.

  1. However, in our present day society we are facing so many conflicts.
  2. One of them is based on our knowledge which has been separated from work-ethics.
  3. Nowledge is separated in thought, in life as well as in market values by faulty psychology, faulty sociology and faulty economics respectively.
  4. Education plays an important role which helps to equip individuals with the skills and attitudes that are necessary in order to adapt in changing situations and to add the creative spirit in the task of social change.

‘Work and knowledge should go together’ is the Gandhian principle of education. The educational systems try to develop the individual soul and mind, courage and self-reliance, cultivate the highest intellectual, scientific, moral and ethical accomplishments.

Gandhi’s concept of education is of quite significance in the contemporary situation. His philosophical concept of education is entirely based on the development of human personality, to maintain the discipline, to create the manual work with learning and to develop the culture of the peace. He was a great educationist and an individualist par excellence.

He knew that education is the most important means in the society which can be used as an instrument of socio-economic progress, material advancement, political evolution and moral development of an individual. Gandhi’s whole philosophy and work was based on ethics and morality.

  • His concept of education is also founded on ethics and morality.
  • It may be said that his concept of education has full of religious ideas.
  • His idea of religion is different from common concept.
  • His concept of religion is ‘service of humanity’.
  • For the spirit of religions he propounded ‘Nai Talim’ or ‘basic education’.

This new education system, Archarya Kriplani says, ‘.is the coping stone of Gandhi’s social and political edifice’. His philosophical thought on education is highly pedestal that creates the socio-economic development of the society. We can draw a conclusion that his concept of education is not only the eradication of illiteracy but learning by doing.
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Did Mahatma Gandhi approved English education in India?

Mahatma Gandhi never approved English education in India. Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law? William Jones came to represent a particular attitude towards India. He shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and the West.
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Why did Gandhiji say that literacy in itself is not education ‘?

He argued that education ought to develop a person’s mind and soul. Literacy – or simply learning to read and write – by itself did not count as education. People had to work with their hands, learn a craft, and know how different things operated. This would develop their mind and their capacity to understand.
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Did Mahatma Gandhi think that English education?

Mahatma Gandhi thought that English education had enslaved Indians because colonial education created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians. It made them to see western civilisation as superior and destroyed the pride they had in their own culture.
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Who is the father of English education?

On this day in 1835, Lord Macaulay successfully westernised education in India; English was made the official language for the government and courts, and was adopted as the official medium of instruction. – Macaulay v/s traditional languages : Ever wondered why we use UK English in India? Thomas Babington, better known as Lord Macaulay, is the man who brought the English language and British education to India. His highly debatable introduction of the English language and the approach to minimalise the use of traditional languages makes an interesting read.
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Why was English Education Act passed Class 8?

The English Education Act was introduced in the year, No worries! We‘ve got your back. Try BYJU‘S free classes today! Right on! Give the BNAT exam to get a 100% scholarship for BYJUS courses No worries! We‘ve got your back. Try BYJU‘S free classes today! No worries! We‘ve got your back. Try BYJU‘S free classes today! Open in App Suggest Corrections 0 : The English Education Act was introduced in the year,
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What did Mahatma Gandhi say about education class 8?

Mahatma Gandhi said that western education was focused on and rather than, reading, writing, oral knowledge Right on! Give the BNAT exam to get a 100% scholarship for BYJUS courses reading, oral knowledge, writing No worries! We‘ve got your back. Try BYJU‘S free classes today! writing, oral knowledge. Suggest Corrections 7 : Mahatma Gandhi said that western education was focused on and rather than,
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Who introduced English education first in India?

English Education Act 1835
Council of India
Enacted by Council of India
Status: Repealed

The English Education Act 1835 was a legislative Act of the Council of India, gave effect to a decision in 1835 by Lord William Bentinck, then Governor-General of the British East India Company, to reallocate funds it was required by the British Parliament to spend on education and literature in India,

Previously, they had given limited support to traditional Muslim and Hindu education and the publication of literature in the then traditional languages of education in India ( Sanskrit and Persian ); henceforward they were to support establishments teaching a Western curriculum with English as the language of instruction.

Together with other measures promoting English as the language of administration and of the higher law courts (instead of Persian, as under the Mughal Empire ), this led eventually to English becoming one of the languages of India, rather than simply the native tongue of its foreign rulers.

  • In discussions leading up to the Act Thomas Babington Macaulay produced his famous Memorandum on (Indian) Education which was scathing on the inferiority (as he saw it) of native (particularly Hindu) culture and learning.
  • He argued that Western learning was superior, and currently could only be taught through the medium of English.

There was therefore a need to produce—by English-language higher education—”a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect” who could in their turn develop the tools to transmit Western learning in the vernacular languages of India.

Among Macaulay’s recommendations were the immediate stopping of the printing by the East India Company of Arabic and Sanskrit books and that the company should not continue to support traditional education beyond “the Sanskrit College at Benares and the Mahometan College at Delhi” (which he considered adequate to maintain traditional learning).

The act itself, however, took a less negative attitude to traditional education and was soon succeeded by further measures based upon the provision of adequate funding for both approaches. Vernacular language education, however, continued to receive little funding, although it had not been much supported before 1835 in any case.
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Who gave English education in India?

English was introduced by Lord Willaim Bentinck as a medium of higher education in India on the advice of Thomas Babington Macaulay who was also his council member.
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Who accepted English education in India?

Few are aware of the fact that, nearly 43 years before Macaulay’s minute on 2 February 1835, an official of the East India Company expressed similar views on the subject when the Company was yet to become an imperial power and that, many years before the coming of Macaulay to Calcutta in December 1834, Bentinck had not
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Who believed that Literacy in itself is not education?

By education what Gandhiji meant was an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man – body, mind and spirit. He believed 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 not education.
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Who said these words Literacy in itself is not education?

‘Literacy in itself is no education’ was quoted by Mahatma Gandhi. He was against western education.
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How was gandhiji differentiated between Literacy and education?

Gandhiji On Education – An education which does not teach us to discriminate between good and bad, to assimilate the one and eschew the other, is a misnomer. Education should be so revolutionized as to answer the wants of the poorest villager, instead of answering those of an imperial exploiter.

  • Education in the understanding of citizenship is a short-term affair if we are honest and earnest.
  • Basic education links the children, whether of cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in India.
  • Is not education the art of drawing out full manhood of the children under training? Literacy in itself is no education.
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Literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning. Literacy education should follow the education of the hand—the one gift that visibly distinguishes man from beast. Real education has to draw out the best from the boys and girls to be educated.

True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth. What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education. National education to be truly national must reflect the national condition for the time being. The function of Nayee-Talim is not to teach an occupation, but through it to develop the whole man.

I believe that religious education must be the sole concern of religious associations. By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man—body, mind and spirit. By spiritual training I mean education of the heart. Experience gained in two schools under my control has taught me that punishment does not purify, if anything, it hardens children.

I consider writing as a fine art. We kill it by imposing the alphabet on little children and making it the beginning of learning. I do regard spinning and weaving as the necessary part of any national system of education. The aim of university education should be to turn out true servants of the people who will live and die for the country’s freedom.

A balanced intellect presupposes a harmonious growth of body, mind and soul. Love requires that true education should be easily accessible to all and should be of use to every villager in this daily life. The notion of education through handicrafts rises from the contemplation of truth and love permeating life’s activities.

  1. The fees that you pay do not cover even a fraction of the amount that is spent on your education from the public exchanger.
  2. Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind.
  3. If we want to impart education best suited to the needs of the villagers, we should take the vidyapith to the villages.

In a democratic scheme, money invested in the promotion of learning gives a tenfold return to the people even as a seed sown in good soil returns a luxuriant crop. All education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country in which it is given.
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What did Gandhi say about English?

6 min read, Updated: 21 Sep 2019, 09:20 AM IST Why Did Mahatma Gandhi Think That English Education Premium Gandhi’s objection to English was that it was alienating and, as the language of government, created an unbridgeable distance between the rulers and the ruled. (Photo: Alamy)

Mahatma Gandhi was firmly against English, the language of the colonizerGandhi viewed Hindi differently from those engaged in a battle to purge it of its Arabic and Persian vocabulary and create a Sanskrit-based language

Among M.K. Gandhi’s lesser-known associates was his long-standing personal secretary, Mahadev Desai. Desai shepherded the Mahatma through his appointments, handled his travel arrangements and also played the role of Gandhi’s Boswellof sorts. The title page of the English edition of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story Of My Experiments With Truth, mentions his name as the translator.

  1. This book was published in serial form in weekly instalments in Gandhi’s Gujarati-language journal, Navajivan, between 1925-29.
  2. Desai later translated it from Gujarati to English; this was published in 1940.
  3. When Gandhi chose to narrate his own life story, he was well past the age of 50.
  4. He had studied in England, lived for close to two decades in South Africa and been the acknowledged leader of the freedom movement for almost a decade.

All his life’s activities up to this point would have involved his transacting in English a great deal and yet, when he chose to write his life story, he chose to do so in his mother tongue. Incidentally, his autobiography wasn’t his first work in Gujarati.

His 1909 work, Hind Swaraj, a meditation on the problems of modern civilization, was also in Gujarati. The Gujarati scholar and criticSitanshu Yashaschandra credits this work with pulling Gujarati prose away from its hesitant steps of the middle to late 19th century and infusing an element of confidence in the language.

Given that both Hind Swaraj and My Experiments With Truth were written in Gujarati in spite of the fact that its writer was an English-educated Indian clearly indicate where Gandhi stood on the language issue. Indeed, if he had not chosen to dwell on the language question anywhere else, these would have been sufficient evidence of his stance in favour of the mother tongue.

But, throughout his life, Gandhi held forth on the language issue in many instances. In his autobiography, Gandhi mentions his early struggles with English, which became the medium of instruction when he was in class IV. Geometry in particular, taught as it was in English, troubled him no end. He also struggled with Sanskrit, and, before joining class VI, toyed with the idea of opting for Persian instead of Sanskrit, since the Persian teacher was of a more lenient disposition.

When the Sanskrit teacher learnt of Gandhi’s inclination for Persian, he proceeded to remind him of his Vaishnava roots and the need to learn the language of his “own religion”. A chastened Gandhi stayed faithful to Sanskrit. In Hind Swaraj, Gandhi articulated his idea of a linguistic order for India which consisted of what he called “provincial languages” and a “universal language”, which in his view should have been “Hindi, with the option of writing it in Persian or Nagari characters”.

  • Clearly, English, in Gandhi’s view, did not have much of a place in India.
  • That Hind Swaraj rejected English education and its purported benefits is not surprising at all since the work also rejected many of the trappings of modern civilization.
  • English, in his view, could function as the language of international communication but was a blot on the Indian character, to the extent that later in life he tersely stated in one of his writings that “it is we, the English-knowing Indians, that have enslaved India”.

One of Gandhi’s most enduring crusades throughout his public life, next only to his attempts to root out untouchability, was to consecrate Hindi as the national language of India. While this might raise the hackles of non-Hindi speakers now, it is necessary to understand his stand in its proper context as well as unpack what he meant when he used the term “Hindi”.

Gandhi’s objection to English was that it was alienating and created distance between those who knew English (largely the privileged class) and those who didn’t (the vast majority). And when English was the language of government, as was the case then, the distance between the rulers and the ruled was unbridgeable and resulted in a situation where communication and mutual understanding were poor.

This was a fatal flaw, in Gandhi’s view, and sufficient cause to limit the use of English. Hindi, which in any case was known to north Indians and could, in Gandhi’s view, be learnt by south Indians, would not suffer from the limitations of English and hence was suitable to be the national language.

In 1918, Gandhi even founded the Dakshina Hindi Prachar Sabha to teach Hindi to south Indians, convinced as he was of its emancipatory potential to unshackle Indians from the vestiges of colonial rule, a great deal of which flowed from the extensive usage of English. Gandhi himself had learnt some Hindi in South Africa but he was aware that his command of the language was poor, and, on more than one public occasion, he apologized for his poor Hindi.

But Gandhi imagined his Hindi differently from the Hindi zealots of the time who were engaged in a battle to purge it of its Arabic and Persian vocabulary and create a Sanskrit-based language. Gandhi’s Hindi, as he stated in an address to the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in 1918, included Urdu and, as articulated in Hind Swaraj, could be written in either the Nagari or the Persian-derived script.

  1. The script issue was a dangerously loaded one in north India at the time.
  2. In fact, the Nagari Pracharini Sabha, which worked closely with the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, had been formed to strive for the Nagari script and Gandhi’s either/or solution when it came to the choice of script was unlikely to endear him to Hindi protagonists.

But Gandhi’s view of the script arose from political considerations and his desire that Hindus and Muslims should jointly oppose British rule. Given that, it was well-nigh impossible for him to weigh-in in favour of one script, though he did fondly express the hope that at a future date, “when our hearts have become one”, a common script would be found.

From 1942 onwards, Gandhi chose to use the term “Hindustani” rather than Hindi, since Hindi by then had been enshrined in the public view as a Sanskritized tongue even as Urdu came to be seen as a Persianized tongue. Choosing to forgo these extreme positions, Gandhi batted for a midpoint that incorporated elements of both—this, in his view, was the language of the common man throughout north India.

Even as he stated his case for Hindi-Hindustani, Gandhi was not unaware of the potential of India’s languages. On sea voyages from South Africa to India, Gandhi had engaged a teacher to teach him Urdu and, interestingly, attempted to learn Tamil from a British primer.

Later, at his experimental Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, he even taught the Urdu and Tamil scripts to children, and throughout his spells in prison, attempted to further his learning of Urdu and Tamil. In Hind Swaraj, he even recommended that northerners learn Tamil. How would Gandhi have viewed the current-day language scenario? Given the continued preponderance of English in Indian life, the state of affairs today would have displeased him.

But he would also not have approved of the Sanskritized Hindi that is the preferred tongue of the ruling dispensation. In fact, he may well have approved of Bollywood Hindi, given its extensive Urdu usage, even if he did not agree with the violence it chooses to show on screen.

  • And the fact that the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha in Chennai is still thriving, with a large number of students on its rolls, would have surely warmed his heart.
  • Arthik Venkatesh is an editor with a publishing firm and is based in Bengaluru.
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What is Gandhi point of view about the English people?

The example is that he doesn’t think Englishmen are worse than other people, many Englishmen are his friends, and many are courageous for speaking against British rule.
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What was the most important system of education according to Gandhiji Class 8?

Mahatma Gandhi thought that the promotion of literacy was the most important aim of education.
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What should be the aim of education according to Mahatma Gandhi Class 8?

Gandhi’s Educational Thoughts – Gandhiji’s Basic Education was the practical embodiment of his philosophy of education. His basic education takes up the challenging task of preparing the young learners to become morally sound, individually independents, socially constructive, economically productive and responsible future citizens which can prove helpful in solving the problem of unemployment by making youth self-employed by giving them skill training.

  1. Gandhiji believed that education should develop all the capacities of the child so that he becomes a complete human being.
  2. In this way, fully and harmoniously developed personality is able to realize the ultimate aim of life which is Truth or God.
  3. Gandhiji has himself explained – “By education I mean all-round drawing out of the best in child’s and man’s body, mind and spirit.

Literacy is neither the beginning nor the end of education. This is only a means through which man or woman can be educated.” His Basic Principles of Education includes:-

From seven to fourteen years of age, education of each child should be free, compulsory and universal. The medium of instruction should be mother-tongue. Mere literacy cannot be equated with education. Education should employ some craft as a medium of education so that the child gains economic self-reliance for his life. Education should develop human values in the child. Education should create useful, responsible and dynamic citizens. By education all the hidden powers of child should develop according to the community of which he is an integral part. Education should achieve the harmonious development of child’s body, mind, heart and soul. All education should be imparted through some productive craft or industry and a useful correlation should be established with that industry. The industry should be such that the child is able to achieve gainful work experience through practical work. Education should be made self-supporting through some productive work. Education should lead to economic independence and self-reliance for livelihood.

Thus, in Gandhiji’s educational thoughts the development of the personality of child is more important than mere literacy or knowledge of different subjects. In other words he believed in life-centered as well as child-centered education. Besides learning of three R’s Reading, Writing and Arithmetic in school, he insisted on development of these H’s Hand, Heart and Head.

Thus, the aim of Education should be of developing the integrated personality of the child. Gandhiji was having clarity in the idea that one of the basic principles of education is that work and knowledge must never be separated. Separation of learning from labor results in social injustices. In dynamic societies, education has to equip individuals with the skills and attitudes necessary for them to adapt to changing conditions, and for constructive participation in the task of social change.

This can prove helpful in solving the problems of frustration, depression, anxiety and feeling of committing suicide among youth. According to Gandhiji through education a child must be able to learn a productive craft to meet his future needs of life by adopting some industry or business.

Hence, he advocated education for self-reliance and capacity to earn one’s livelihood as the main aim of education. By this aim he did mean to make the child a laborer but wished that each child should earn while engaged in learning and gain some learning as he is busy with earning. He advocated that together with vocational education cultural advancement should also be achieved.

The two aspects of development should go together side by side. Gandhiji insisted that education should develop all aspects of individuality harmoniously. He also believed that one of the essential aims of education is the moral development or character development.

  • Gandhiji wishes that every child should grow into a divine human being by realizing Godliness in his self.
  • Gandhiji himself writes.
  • To develop the self is to build character and to prepare the self for complete realization and realization of Godliness.
  • Gandhiji’s ‘Basic Education’ was job centered, value based and mass oriented.

Here it is important to note that these are still the important requirements of education in our country. In his scheme of education, knowledge must be related to activity and practical experiences. Therefore his curriculum is activity centered. Its aim is to prepare the child for practical work, conduct experiments and do research so that he is able to develop himself physically, mentally and spiritually and become a useful member of society.

In this activity-centered curriculum, Gandhiji included Mother-tongue, Basic Craft, Arithmetic, Sociology, General Science, Art, Music and other like subjects. He further advocated that curriculum for boys and girls from classes 1 to 5 should be the same. After that boys should be taught some Craft and girls should study Home-Science.

It should be noted that Gandhiji’s scheme of Basic Education is limited to primary and junior stages only. Gandhiji also insisted that his scheme for primary education would include “the elementary principles of sanitation, hygiene, nutrition,” besides “compulsory physical training through musical drill.

  1. Gandhiji argues that his scheme would make students strong, confident and useful to their parents and their country.
  2. Gandhiji adds that his system would lead to communal harmony because it would be the same for all; it would this be “practical religion, the religion of self help”.
  3. Gandhiji disapproved rote learning educational methods and considered it as defective and emphasized to make crafts and vocations as means of education.

He wished that some local craft should be made as medium of education for children so that they develop their body, mind and soul in a harmonious way and also meet the ends needs to their future life. In this way, Gandhiji’s method of teaching was therefore, different from the current one.

To achieve mental development, training of senses and parts of the body should be given. Reading should precede the teaching of writing. More opportunities should be given for learning by doing. Encouragement should be given to learning by experience. Correlation should be established in the teaching methods and learning experiences.

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What were the views of Gandhiji about education class 8?

Distinction between education and literacy – Gandhi distinguished education from literacy. Gandhi said, “By education, I mean all-around drawing out of the best in child and man-body mind and spirit. Literacy is not the end of education, not even the beginning. It is one of the means whereby men and women can be educated. Literacy in itself is no education.”
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