BASIC EDUCATION FOR INDIA

From Vishnugupta Chanakya to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, many gave much thought to the subject of early education of an Indian child. Gandhi existed after about 2300 years of Chanakya, but they both were original thinkers who very sincerely thought about the welfare of the people belonging to their respective immediate surroundings, the former about his country and the latter about the kingdom he belonged to.

Chanakya thought that apart from the moral values, language along with good knowledge of grammar and basics of Shastras must be taught to a child right in the early stages of his education. His concern about the education of language and grammar can be easily understood. In those days all the knowledge was contained in the form of different Shastras, hence, unless one became well versed with the language and grammar, used in the Shastras it was not possible for him to enter into the realm of knowledge. Next, what could be understood as the ‘basics of the Shastras’? In general, we can say, “The life on this earth is dependant on and is governed by the cycles of nature, which have never changed since time immemorial; and, therefore, only those who live respecting and obeying those laws and never flouting them live peacefully”. This simple, but most precious knowledge is at the root of all the Shastras and, therefore, could be understood as ‘basics of Shastras.

Chanakya existed when, not all, but only those who might have been expected to become rulers, their advisers or assistants, and those who were expected to become the teachers to protect, to take care of and to guide the ordinary people, living within the framework of the rules made by the rulers and teachers needed formal education. As regards earning their livelihood, the ordinary people learned the skills therefor from their families and other experienced elders living in the society.

For Gandhi, the purpose of basic education was initiating a process of physical, intellectual and spiritual growth. From his various expressions, written and verbal, we find that Gandhi’s thoughts were much aligned to the basics of Shastra’s. However, Gandhi, who was well aware that India’s social and cultural fabric had been torn into many pieces due to multiple invasions by the outsiders with intentions of looting and plundering the wealth of India, and forcibly owning the vast natural resources of India, including its manpower for amassing and multiplying their wealth for their own use. In a nutshell, they had enslaved India, thereby giving a severe blow to India’s social, political, physical, intellectual and spiritual strength. Gandhi’s thoughts, therefore, revolved around reconstruction and rejuvenation of India as a self-dependent nation taking care of its own people.

Gandhi’s main concern, therefore, was about rebuilding and developing a new India, whose people considered their immediate surrounding as their own part that needed to be nurtured carefully for strengthening it physically, intellectually and spiritually. Gandhi had observed that despite having been shaken to the core the Indian psyche of valuing the right and the righteous more than the mundane attractions of physical pleasure and comforts was intact even in an extremely poor and completely illiterate farmer.

Gandhi wanted that an Indian must develop a deep rooted concern about his immediate surroundings, that is, India as a nation; because, the lack of such concern had resulted into a prolonged slavery for millions of its people of hundreds of years. For Gandhi books and Shastras mattered little; what mattered to him was true and practical knowledge about all the happenings that influenced the life of living beings, particularly, the human beings, in one’s immediate surroundings.

For example, if a child observes that some of his friends do not have enough clothes to cover their bodies, the education begins with finding reasons therefor. The whole knowledge of history, geography, agricultural sciences, politics, mathematics, and economics comes into play to answer a simple inquiry of a child. Gandhi knew that the seed, earth, water, sun, agricultural activity, physical labour, crop, cotton, loom, village, governments would come one-by-one necessitating portrayal of a larger view of collective life that a child would understand only partially; but definitely, even a partial answer that he himself can practically observe, experience or manipulate with, would make his education interesting. By experiencing even the partial answers, the books and the chapters contained therein, would definitely become interesting and effective tools to satisfy the inquiries of children, rather than mere drudgeries they have to undergo in their formative years without relating themselves, individually and collectively, with real life situations.

Gandhi insisted on useful physical work carried out by the teams of the students, knowledge of the mother tongue, child to teacher dialogue on the subjects and the chapters of the books included in the curriculum, practical work in matters related health, hygiene etc. and overall cleanliness.

Chanakya and Gandhi thought of basic education as the initial step towards what was essential for the society, not for a human being. For the both of them a society, in a geographical space, time and circumstances, which serves the humanity, must take precedence over individual in the matters relating to human development.

Maybe, from the foregoing, we get a clue as to how our system of basic education must be oriented.

PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA 

[The writer of this blog is also the author of “Mahatma A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]