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Preface |
THOUGH Gandhiji may not be accepted as an educationist in a conventional sense of the word, yet the views on education that he has expressed, experimented with and enforced in practice, undoubtedly mark him out as a born educationist and a teacher of an exceptionally high order. His integrated and comprehensive outlook on life and its problems has given him a truer perception of what real education should be than most of the so-called educationists whose ideas of education are generally of the narrow, conformist type. What is the meaning of education and what should be its aim and object ? Answering the question, Gandhiji tells us that education does not mean a know-ledge of letters, that is, an ability to read and write, as it is ordinarily understood to be. While he fully recognizes the value of literacy in the scheme of things, he would not regard it as education, neither its beginning nor the end. Literacy, according to him, is only one of the means, a sort of an instrument, for acquiring education. But, in itself, it is no education. Gandhiji is at one with Huxley that the aim of education is the building up of character. Education that helps to build up sound character and promotes self-development is true education. And this kind of education naturally cannot have for its object the earning of money, the securing of status in society, or a life of ease and comfort. For, then, it would mean negation of all that the real education should stand for. But the real difficulty, as Gandhiji puts it, is that "people have no idea of what education truly is. We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock-exchange market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated." In order to build up the character of the students and impart to them true education, Gandhiji is of the emphatic view that we must shed false notion about manual labor and realize its innate worth and dignity. The youth of India must be taught, he says, that it is not ungentlemanly to labor with one's hands and feet to earn one's livelihood. He feels that there is a great need in our country for creating suitable atmosphere for "productive work" which should form an important part of our education. Of all the many good things that Gandhiji has given us, his scheme of education, placed before the country for adoption, is considered to be the best. It combines acquisition of knowledge with craft-work and is based on Gandhiji''s view that "true education of the intellect can only come through a proper exercise and training of the bodily organs, e.g., hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose, etc." This, he believes, makes for the quickest development of the child's intellect. "But unless the development of the mind and body goes hand in hand with a corresponding awakening of the soul," Gandhiji states, "the former alone would prove to be a lop-sided affair." By education, therefore, he means "an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man body, mind and spirit." For the proper and effective implementation of his scheme of education, it is of the utmost importance that the teachers should be all men of character who are inspired by spirit of service. They should look upon education as a duty which they must perform, and be content with only a living wage. If the teachers play their role faithfully and well, Gandhiji has no doubt that their value would go up "a million times". Gandhiji regards the use of foreign medium of instruction as the greatest tragedy of the existing system of education. It has caused, he says, "brainfag, put an undue strain upon the nerves of our children, made them crammers and imitators, unfitted them for original work and thought, and disabled them from filtrating their learning to the family or the masses. The foreign medium has made our children practically foreigners in their own land." The reader will do well to have a careful dip into the pages of this small book and, I daresay, he will find himself amply rewarded for so doing. He will, then, know for himself that, however radical and revolutionary Gandhiji''s views on education may be, they are, nonetheless, in line with our ancient culture and tradition, and that, therefore, it would be a great mistake and a misfortune for us to reject them out of hand by dubbing them as unpractical and unorthodox. For, assuredly, we would do so only at the cost of material as well as moral well-being of our nation. ANAND T. HINGORANI
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