Basic Education

THIS education is meant to transform village children into model villagers. It is principally designed for them. The inspiration for it has to 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 begins to take his or her share from the very commencement of his or her career in school.

— Constructive Programmer : p. 15.

Object of Basic Education

The object of basic education is the physical, intellectual and moral development of the children through the medium of a handicraft. But I hold that any scheme, which is sound from the educative point of view, and is efficiently managed, is bound to be sound economically. 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 principle, viz., that human labour and material should never be used in a 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 makes basic education self-sufficient.

— Harijan : April 6, 1940

Children as Parents' Teachers

It seems to be generally admitted that without the new or basic education, the education of millions of children in India is well-nigh impossible. The village worker has, therefore, to master it and become a basic education teacher himself. Adult education will follow in the wake of basic education as a matter of course. Where this new education has taken root, the children themselves become their parents teachers. Be that as it may, the village worker has to understand adult education also.

— Harijan : Aug. 18, 1940