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By Suresh MishraV

The crisis in our education system continues to be a major concern even after six
decades of independence. The Gandhian model of Basic Education, which in its
modified form is most suited to India, was given a trial in independent India and the
Archaic British system, which has been thoroughly overhauled in its homeland, has
been retained in India in its original form. V
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India today is one of the most illiterate countries of the world. We have around 300
million illiterates. And of those who are literate, not even half of them are educated in
the real sense. Half of the literates are not employable in any industry even though
the education imparted is only for employment. It is not meant to make life worth
living by imparting training in 3-H: Head ± learning to know; hand ± learning to earn
livelihood, and Heart ± learning to be. The need is to have an education system that
makes people better human beings; that enables them to meet their basic needs of
food, clothing, shelter, education, health, security and self-esteem, infusing the society
with a sense of vasudhaivakutumbakam (the whole world is a family and the earth is a
common habitat). V

A look at our contemporary education system shows that it is not geared to meet the
above objectives. The essential aspects of education as given by our great thinkers
like Mahatma Gandhi are no longer in focus. V

A deeper analysis shows that our education system neither produces men and women
with creative talent and skill, nor with strong moral character. It has even failed to
spread literacy among the people. V
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Education remained a neglected subject in Colonial India; it was limited to the upper
class of the society which was aimed at producing clerks for the functioning of the
British administration. V

Poor quality and limited access to education has been there ever since the colonial
times. It had its repercussions beyond the economic sphere. Culturally and socially,
and of course, technologically, India became an undeveloped nation. V
While other laid emphasis on higher education, Mahatma Gandhi, ever since he
returned to India from South Africa in 1914, laid great emphasis on primary education
having relevance to the life and living of the masses of people, particularly in rural
areas. Incidentally, he distinguished between literacy and education. An illiterate
person can be highly educated, while a literate person can be uneducated or ill-
educated. Gandhi was equally interested in secondary and higher education but
considered primary education as the foundation for not only higher education but also,
and most importantly, to become a human being with character and creativity. V

There is no doubt that a fresh look at our education system is urgently needed. India
must get back to the Gandhian system of education with appropriate changes and
modifications to suit the conditions prevailing today. Gandhi¶s scheme of education
called  
  
 or Basic Education, lays emphasis on the harmonious development of
the individual by further developing the best in him. Many have argued that  

 
 was time specific and hence is not so relevant today. Being a dynamic
personality, Gandhiji would have modified his education system as time passed. V

Taking clue from Gandhi, a feeble attempt was made to introduce value education in
the university curricula. It petered off as time passed and today no one talks about it.
The message of Gandhi that there is enough on this earth to meet everyone¶s needs
but not every one¶s greed, has not reached the common man through our educational
system. There is so much violence all over the world, but Gandhi¶s message of
nonviolence does not find a place in our education system. V
We have some of the best educational institutions like IITs and IIMs and many other
institutions, which have done well even if they are run on business lines. But our mass
education system has completely collapsed. Primary and secondary education run
largely by State governments are neither primary/secondary nor education. Corrupt
practices by the management of schools, even allowing copying for a fee, points to the
extent to which our education system has been devalued. Degree colleges and
universities fare no better. Vice-Chancellors of several universities are found to be
corrupt and in many cases are appointed because they belong to a particular caste or
community or are selected by the ruling political party, rather than acumen for
administration. Of the 200 best universities in the world, India with one-sixth of the
global population has only three, whilst China has more that eight included in the list.
Although the ranking is quite subjective, it points to the poor state of higher
education. V
It is only through education that human development and socio-economic change can
take place. Economists like Amartya Sen have laid great emphasis on education as a
critical factor in improving the quality of life of the people, in eradicating poverty and in
accelerating economic growth. V

The ancient Indian system of education had an integrated approach to training of head
(mind), hand (skills), and heart (human values and ethics). Gandhi came out with a
new model of education and called it Nai Talim (new education), known as Basic
Education. To Gandhi, the objective of education was the harmonious development of
the individual, drawing out the best in him. To him, the body is the means of earning a
living; mind is the means of reasoning; while the soul is a place for building character.
The learner needs to understand the importance of education for earning a living, for
acquiring knowledge, and for building a loving personality. V
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*I have no faith in the so-called system of education, which produces men by learning
without the backbone of character´, said Gandhi. *True education is that which helps
us to know our true self, our soul, our soul, God and truth. Every branch of knowledge
should have as its goal, knowledge of the self, and exploration of the Truth.´ V

The following are the conclusions Gandhi arrived at regarding education in 1932: V
1.Vooung boys and girls should have co-education till they are eight years of age.
2.VTheir education should mainly consist in manual training under the supervision of
an educationist.
3.VThe special aptitudes of each child should be recognized in determining the kind
of work he or she should do.
4.VThe reasons for every process should be explained when the process is being
carried out.
5.VGeneral knowledge should be imparted to each child as he begins to understand
things. Learning to read or write should come later.
6.VThe child should first be taught to draw simple geometrical figures and when he
has learnt to draw these with ease, he should be taught to write the alphabet.
if this is done he will write a good hand from the very first.
7.VReading should come before writing. The letters should be treated as pictures to
be recognized and later on to be copied.
8.VA child taught on these lines will have acquired considerable knowledge according
to his capacity by the time he is eight.
9.VNothing should be taught to a child by force.
 10.VHe should be interested in everything taught to him.
11.VEducation should appear to the child like play. Play is an essential part of
education.
12.VAll education should be imparted through the mother tongue.
13.VThe child should be taught Hindi-Urdu as the national languages, before he
learns letters.
14.VReligious education is indispensable and the child should get it by watching the
teacher's conduct and by hearing him talk about it.
15.VNine to sixteen constitutes the second stage in the child's education.
16.VIt is desirable that boys and girls should have co-education during the second
stage also as far as possible.
17.VHindu children should now be taught Sanskrit and Muslim children Arabic.
18.VManual training should be continued during the second stage. Literary
education should be allotted more time according to necessity.
19.VThe boys during this stage should be taught their parents' vocation in such a
way that they will by their own choice obtain their livelihood by practising the
hereditary craft. This does not apply to the girls.
20.VDuring this stage the child should acquire a general knowledge of world history
and geography, botany, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry and algebra.
21.VEach child should now be taught to sew and to cook.
22.VSixteen to twenty-five is the third stage, during which every young person
should have an education according to his or her wishes and circumstances.
23.VDuring the second stage (9-16), education should be self-supporting; that is,
the child, all the time that he is learning, is working upon some industry, the
proceeds of which will meet the expenditure of the school.
24.VProduction starts from the very beginning, but during the first stage it does not
still catch up with the expenditure.
25.VTeachers should be paid not very high salaries but only a living wage. It is a
despicable thing to take any Tom, Dick and Harry as a teacher in the primary
stage. All teachers should be men of character; they should be imbued with the
spirit of service to the community they serve.
26.VBig and expensive buildings are not necessary for educational institutions.
27.VEnglish should be taught only as one of several languages. As Hindi is the
national language, English is to be used in dealing with other nations and
international commerce.

The idea of Basic Education, as Gandhi propounded, has an inner version of moulding
the child from every aspect of his life. The best way to educate the child is to allow it
to exercise its creative genius and critical power of imagination. To allow it to find out
its own world of creation is to inspire it to be self-reliant; and to allow it to be critical in
approach is to thrust it towards self-innovation and self-discovery. Gandhi believed that
man has a divine content in him. He comes raw in this world, like animals do.
However, man is gifted with a body that can create things, a mind that can store
experiences and recall them for appropriate uses and a soul that is ever pure. A
combination of these three takes man above the animal. Education thus helps in
elevating man from subconscious animal to super-conscious ideal human being. The
premises underlying Gandhian model of education should not be changed but the
policies and programmes can be definitely changed to conform to the needs of the
present day. The premises underlying Gandhian model of primary education are:V
1.Vprimary education means character building to begin with;
2.Vaim of education is to develop integrated personality of students training their
hands to learn skills, head to think and acquire knowledge to understand the
environment in which they live and work, and heart to respect human dignity,
have empathy with nature and love their fellow beings;
3.Veducation should follow the dictum of learning by doing and should be a life-long
process;
4.Vprimary education should be accessible to all irrespective of community, caste or
economic standing of parents;
5.Veducational infrastructure should be the first priority of any community or
government; it should not be iniquitous, nor should it be ostentatious;
6.Vteacher is the backbone of any educational system; teaches should bear high
moral character and should be knowledgeable; and
7.Veducation is a means, not an end. End is the development of better human
beings.
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In the Gandhian scheme of things, secondary education all the way from 9th to 12th
class would form an appropriate blend of knowledge of various subjects, skill in at least
one trade and art and peace making (conflict resolution) and all must choose at least
one extracurricular activity: sports, games, music, dance, etc.V

At the higher secondary level (11th to 12th class), students should be allowed to
branch off to various streams such as Science, Commerce and Arts, but mathematics,
basic sciences, language (two at least) and computer application must be obligatory for
all. Training in commercial agriculture should be imparted to all students. Further, all
students should be given theoretical as well as practical instruction in Indian cultural
heritage and human development focusing on the role of each individual in building a
peaceful and harmonious society.V

The objective of secondary education should be that if students want to study further
they should be able to move on but if they want to terminate their education they
should be able to make a living in their chosen field.V
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University education is currently under great stress largely because it has failed to
change with time. Research output of our universities is is terribly poor; teaching
almost routine; and training component missing.V

Academic programmes of our universities must be run on semester or trimester basis.

Research must be the main thrust of post-graduate programmes. At the graduation
level, theoretical foundation of the subjects should be taught, and there should be
intensive practical work related to their field, and language training in two languages:
English and mother tongue so that students are fluent in both. They should also be
given a course in the philosophy of life with focus on Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda,
and basic tenets of various religions. V
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Government control over education; divorce of education from basic human values
ingrained in Indian culture, civilization and constitution and no exposure to the basic
tenets of various religions of India; stress on information at the cost of knowledge,
training and character building; and the separation of knowledge and skill; has made
our education system sick. To make our education system healthy again, in my view,
the government must not have direct control over education, it should only assist it
and demand standards comparable to those prevailing in developing countries. Each
State should have an autonomous Education Commission comprising of top
educationists, scientists, technologists, industrialists, businessmen and administrators.
The task of the commission should be to promote private investment in infrastructure,
to recruit and train teachers, and to ensure that all children of school-going age are in
school. The government should assist it financially to the tune of 5 percent of the
annual State Budget. The Commission should be a statutory autonomous body.V

The Commission should ensure that there would be a Model Primary School to serve
five Gram Panchayats, a Model Higher Secondary School for a group of twenty Gram
Panchayats and a Model Degree College for a group of hundred. The size of the
threshold area would change keeping in view the topography, climate, population
distribution and birthrate.V

Primary education should be made compulsory for all children from 4 - 13 years of
age. Parents who are too poor to send their children to school would get financial aid
from the Commission and a NGO would be entrusted with the responsibility after five
primary schools and ensure that such children attend school regularly. All NGOs looking
after the schools would meet once in six months to exchange experiences and develop
common strategies to ensure that the schools run smoothly. The Commission could
also encourage business and industrial houses to adopt such schools. V

For Higher Education too there should be an autonomous Commission with almost
similar roles and functions. It should help both Central and State universities launch
new academic programmes, secure funds from government or private sources and set
educational standards.V
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Writing in Indian Opinion in 1907, Gandhi remarked: "Education is just a means. If it

is not accompanied by truthfulness, firmness, patience and other virtues, it remains
sterile and sometimes does harm instead of good. The objective of education is not to
be able to earn money, but to improve oneself and to serve the country. If this object
is not realized, it must be taken that the money spent on education has been wasted."V

As a nation we are facing a crisis, moral values have degraded; consumerism and
corruption have become a part of our life; honesty is a thing of the past and character
and self-respect are no more seen as virtues. Violence is everywhere; people are
desperately searching for peace and harmony. More educated a person is, more
dangerous he has become. This is not to suggest that we have not made progress in
many sectors. But our 'we' constitutes only 15-20 percent of Indians. At least 300
million amongst us do not have access to the most basic needs. If we can make
progress, we would set new standards for the world to follow. We need to develop new
strategies and policies to reform out education, while keeping Gandhi's philosophy at
the back of our minds and reforming our education system on Gandhian lines.V
V
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1.V Shukla Ramakant, u 
 


 
 

, Sublime Publications, Jaipur, 2002

2.V Solanki A.B., 



 


 
 

, Navjivan Publishing House,
Ahmedabad, 1958
 3.V Misra R.P., (ed), u 



 
  , Concept Publishing
Company, 1989, New Delhi
4.V Hindustani Talimi Sangh, 
 




 

   

 

 

, in Suresh Misra, (Ed) u 
 
 


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, Vol
5, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, 2005
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By Mahatma GandhiV

IF ONE does not practice non-violence in one's personal relations with others, and
hopes to use it in bigger affairs, one is vastly mistaken. Non-violence like charity must
begin at home.V

But if it is necessary for the individual to be trained in non-violence, it is even more

necessary for the nation to be trained likewise. One cannot be non-violent in one's own
circle and violent outside it. Or else, one is not truly non-violent even in one's own
circle; often the non-violence is only in appearance. It is only when you meet with
resistance, as for instance, when a thief or a murderer appears, that your non-violence
is put on its trail. oou either try or should try to oppose the thief with his own weapons,
or you try to disarm him by love. Living among decent people, your conduct may not
be described as a non-violent.V

Mutual forbearance is non-violence. Immediately, therefore, you get the conviction that
non-violence is the law of life, you have to practice it towards those who act violently
towards you, and the law must apply to nations as individuals. Training no doubt is
necessary. And beginnings are always small. But if the conviction is there, the rest will
follow.V
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Non-violence to be a creed has to be all-pervasive. I cannot be non-violent about one
activity of mine and violent about others.V

It is a blasphemy to say that non-violence can only be practiced by individuals and

never by nations which are composed of individuals.V

In my opinion, non-violence is not passivity in any shape or form. Non-violence, as I

understand it, is the most active force in the world...Non-violence is the supreme law.
During my half a century of experience, I have not yet come across a situation when I
had to say that I was helpless, that I had no remedy in terms of non-violence.V
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I am an irrepressible optimist. My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite
possibilities of the individual to develop non-violence. The more you develop it in your
own being, the more infectious it becomes till it over-whelms your surroundings and by
and by might over sweep the world.V

I have known from early youth that non-violence is not a cloistered virtue to be
practiced by the individual for his peace and final salvation, but it is a rule of conduct
for society if it is to live consistently with human dignity and make progress towards
the attainment of peace for which it has been yearning for ages past.V

To practice non-violence in mundane matters is to know its true value. It is to bring

heaven upon earth. There is no such thing as the other world. All works are one. There
is no 'here' and no 'there'. As Jeans has demonstrated, the whole universe including
the most distant stars, invisible even through the most powerful telescope in the world,
is compressed in an atom.V

I hold it, therefore, to be wrong to limit the use of non-violence to cave-dwellers and
for acquiring merit for a favoured position in the other world. All virtue ceases to have
use if it serves no purpose in every walk of life.V
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Unfortunately for us, we are strangers to the non-violence of the brave on a mass
scale. Some even doubt the possibility of the exercise of non-violence by groups, much
less by masses of people. They restrict its exercise to exceptional individuals. Only,
mankind can have no use of it if it is always reserved only for individuals.V
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I have been practicing with scientific precision non-violence and its possibilities for an
unbroken period of over fifty years. I have applied it in every walk of life, domestic,
institutional, economic and political. I know of no single case in which it has failed.
Where it has seemed sometimes to have failed, I have ascribed it to my imperfections.
I claim no perfection for myself. But I do claim to be a passionate seeker after Truth,
which is but another name for God. In the course of that search, the discovery of non-
 violence came to me. Its spread is my life mission. I have no interest in living except
for the prosecution of that mission.V

There is no hope for the aching world except through the narrow and straight path of
non-violence. Millions like me may fail to prove the truth in their own lives, that would
be their failure, never of the eternal law.V


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- By V. S. ThyagarajanV

September 11 precedes October 2 only by three weeks but, as dates that symbolise
events, they have nothing in common. The first is known for the unprecedented terror
and violence unleashed on thousands of innocent people, while the other is a date
etched in history by the apostle of peace-the Mahatma.V

As the years go by and generations change, doubts begin to creep in is October 2 still
relevant and does non-violence still have meaning in a world deeply divided by
conflicting ideologies and religious fundamentalism? Since Mahatma Gandhi's name and
philosophy of non-violence are inseparable, there is an attempt to reduce the scope of
the tenets of non-violence to the period in which Gandhiji live and context in which he
fought for the freedom of the country.V

But September 11 has brought back into sharp focus the relevance of non-violence to a
world in which the United States, the only "super power", found itself vulnerable for the
first time in its history. Before 1947, for many freedom fighters in India, Gandhiji's
tenets of non-violence was a tool, a powerful instrument pressed into use to fight the
forces of British imperialism to gain independence. It was not a faith, not a
philosophical discourse and it was certainly not a commitment an independent India
could not afford.V

The questions that troubled the minds of freedom fighters were: how can a modern
nation-state function without building an effective coercive apparatus? To maintain law
and order within its borders and to meet any challenge of external aggression, will it
not be the duty of a state to construct, strengthen and constantly nurture its police,
paramilitary and military forces?V

While Gandhiji did agree that yielding to external threats would be tantamount to
compromising with cowardice, his commitment to non-violence was not a mere policy
formulation for a country that struggled to free itself from the British yoke. His idea of
non-violence was a comprehensive philosophy that would serve the purpose of all
countries, all men and women, under all circumstances. In the last five decades, he
has been proven right, in different parts of the world under different circumstances.V

Gandhiji's disciple, Martin Luther King Jr., did not carry any weapon. His shield for the
emancipation of the Black people was moulded in non-violence, and with that shield he
dared to dream. His dream seems to have been fulfilled in a substantial measure in the
decades since the turbulent 1960s.V

September 11 was yet another occasion when it became clear that violence would
never be justified under any circumstance, either in the name of an ideology or a
religion. If terrorism marks one end of the spectrum, at the other end lies the U.S.
Administration's obsession with objectives that are in stark contrast to Gandhiji's
obsession with the means. Gandhiji believed that if the means were right, the end
would take care of itself. Gandhiji could never bring himself to experimenting with
short-term policies to serve short-term interests.V

September 11 could perhaps have been different if the U.S. had cared a little more for
the means as well as the ends in the 1980s and refrained from funding and arming
terrorist forces that were led by men like Osama bin Laden. With the assistance of bin
Laden and the forces of extremism, terrorism and religious fundamentalism, the U.S.
succeeded in getting Soviet troops, out of Afghanistan in 1989, but such short-sighted
policy had begun to haunt Washington a decade later.V

Gandhiji or no Gandhiji, it is unfortunately true today that a call for ’ $ a "holy war"
for 1,000 years, motivates thousands of young men to carry deadly arms and have
suicidal impulses, but a call for non-violence is not exactly fashionable.V

Non-violence as a philosophical concept looks as dull and uninspiring as a United

Nations' conference on disarmament or sustainable development. oet, if we examine
Gandhiji's visualisation of non-violence dispassionately, we will find that, like the
Buddha's sermons, it has neither a beginning nor an end. It transcends time, nations
and peoples. Since the atrocities committed in New oork and Washington in
September 2001, scholars have made attempts to find meaning of September 11.V

It appears that they have succeeded only partly. If they care to view the phenomenon
of terrorism through the prism of non-violence and aim at marrying the ends with the
means, the meaning of September 11 may become clearer. And the meaning of
October 2, the day Gandhiji was born 133 years ago, would be still valid.V

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