Cleanliness and Manners

IN my recent tour of Gujarat, I was able to observe large numbers of boys studying in our national schools. A majority of them appeared shabby and dirty. Some had caps encrusted with the mixture of sweat and dirt and exuding a stink so offensive that one could not touch them. Some were dressed in peculiar clothes. There were some boys who had put on too much clothing for the weather then existing. Others had come attired in pants which had no buttons. Some were clothed in torn rags. I feel that just as boys suffering from contagious diseases should not be allowed to come to schools, even so those who are dirty—either in their persons or clothes—or whose clothes are torn. It will be asked : where and when are such boys to learn decency and manners ? The remedy is quite easy. The teacher must first take such boys to the school bathroom and make them bathe. They should then be asked to wash their clothes, and while their own clothes dry, they should be supplied with clothes from the school. When their clothes are dry, they should give back the school clothes after having washed them. If this involves an extra expenditure to an extent for which the school is not prepared, the boy should be given a chit (explaining why he is being sent back) and asked to go home. Of course, he is to be allowed in the class when he returns after a bath. Personal cleanliness and good manners must be the very first lesson imparted by the school. Even if it be difficult to compel the boys to take to a uniform dress, yet to allow the boys to come to school scantily or indecently attired is not to be countenanced.

Physical Exercise and Drill

Similar attention should be paid to physical exercise and drill which are most important for physical and mental well-being. The boys should know how to walk, sit and stand properly ; they should be trained to walk in step with one another even when there are thousands of them walking together. One is sitting languidly with his hunch upraised, another with his legs outstretched, a third is yawning and a fourth keeps on crying : this is hardly permissible in a good school. If they are allowed to please themselves in this way, how can they learn to walk in step in groups of thousands ? Training in these things should also be imparted to the boys from the very beginning. This will give them a sense of decorum. They will look tidy and smart. The school will gain in prestige, and the atmosphere would become cheerful. The boys so trained and disciplined may then be taken out in thousands without any commotion or confusion so much in evidence in our schools. I remember one or two schools where just as the whistle went out, 900 boys quietly gathered together at the appointed place within three minutes, and, as soon as the work was over, went back to their classes without the least noise as though they had not come out at all.

The dress, according to me, should consist of knickers, a shirt and a cap. That would be quite sufficient. If the clothes are clean, it is a fine spectacle to see hundreds of boys dressed in the same kind of clothes. Some boys are found to put on, in addition, a jacket and a long or a half coat and seem to feel proud of it. They should be saved from thus making a fool of themselves.

Development of Body, Mind and Soul

I quite realize that cleanliness, tidiness and efficiency in drill etc. are only a minor part of a child's education and certainly not the all of it. They must be trained to acquire strength of character and learn reading and writing. But we cannot neglect any part of it, however minor it may be. We must provide for the development of all the three : the body, the mind and the soul, whichever of these remains undeveloped will cause him trouble in future, and when they come to know of these defects in their early training and upbringing they will regret it. Not only that, it will also have a very adverse effect on society. Even to-day we are suffering from the ill effects of an improperly devised education. Our habits are so unhygienic that we have not yet succeeded in eradicating epidemics like plague and others. In our cities it has become almost impossible to observe cleanliness. We do not know even the most elementary rules of good citizenship and, what is worse, do not observe the few that we know.

— Navajivan : April 26, 1925