National Education

WITHOUT a national system of education, all our efforts must prove futile. Whenever we get Swa—efforts must prove futile. Whenever we get Swaraj—raj—to-day or after some time, it has to be remembered that it will not last long without national education. Except during the first years of a child's life, the rest of his education is given through a foreign language. Besides, in the first five years, which are in some respects the most useful and of the greatest importance, education is usually imparted by the most ordinary type of teachers. Then begins English. At this stage, the boys pass as if into a different world altogether. The education which is given to them has no relation to the life at home. The boys who till then were quite happy to do their lessons sitting on the ground, now have benches. At home, even to-day, the prevailing custom in most homes is to sit on the floor. Until then, the boy, if he was a Hindu, was content to wear a dhoti, a Kurta, and the angarakha and, if a Muslim, to wear the payjamas instead of the dhoti ; but now he uses a coat and trousers. Until then, he could do with the homely kalam, but now he has a pen with a steel nib. Thus, many significant changes take place in his outer living and a wide gulf divides the home and the school. Gradually, but definitely, this change begins to enter his inner life, too. How are these changes in the outer life and the inner mental make-up of the boy going to affect his home and the way his people live at home ? His parents have no idea at all as to what sort of education the boy is getting and their faith in that education is negligible.

Way to Escape Danger

Parents only know that it will help the boy to earn money. And this satisfies them. If this situation lasts long, we might all become foreigners ! What is worse, even the Swaraj for which we are struggling may become foreign in character when we finally get it, with the result that the very burden under which we are crushed to-day may continue even after Swaraj. There is only one way to escape this danger. It is to change and overhaul our system of education. In the national education to be evolved :

1. Education must be imparted through the mother-tongue.

1. "True national education should be imparted through the language of each province. The teachers must be men of high ability. The school should be located at a place where students would get clean drinking water, pure air and a peaceful atmosphere. The surroundings must be perfectly.

2. There must be accord between the education a child receives at school and the environment of the home.

3. It must be so planned as to meet the needs of the majority of the people.

4. The teachers in primary classes must be competent men of good character right from the first class.

5. Education must be free.

6. Overall control must be in the hands of the people.

- True Education : p. 39