Relevance of Gandhian Education Philosphy
Most of Gandhi’s important writings on education have been compiled and edited by Bharatan Kumarappa in two slim books, Basic Education (1951) and Towards New Education (1953). These writings are mostly miscellaneous, consisting of letters, speeches, extracts from books, and so on, but together they may be taken to constitute a coherent philosophy of education. The most significant single document in all of Gandhi’s writings on education is probably the Inaugural Address that he delivered at the Wardha Conference of 1937. Perhaps, it is not accidental that we are meeting at the same venue sixty-two years later. I shall come back to this Inaugural Address, in which Gandhi is reported to have spoken for 85 minutes (Varkey 4). But first, let us try to understand, briefly, what this conference was about.
The Wardha conference was held under the auspices of the Marwari Education Society (later renamed as the Nava Bharat Vidyalaya) at Wardha on 22nd and 23rd October 1937. Jamnalal Bajaj was the President of this Society, which held the conference to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the society and of the Marwari High School of Wardha. The idea was to give Gandhi a national platform to launch his ideas of education. Gandhi was the President of the conference, which was attended by well-known educationists and ministers, including B. G. Kher, Premier of Bombay Presidency, Zakir Hussain, Principal of Jamia Millia, Delhi, P. Subbarayan, former Minister for Education, Madras, Viswanath Das, former Minister for Education, Orissa, Ravishankar Shukla, former Minister Educationa Minister, Central Provinces, Jamnalal Bajaj, J. C. Kumarappa, Kakasaheb Kalelkar, and a number of other eminent educationists and associates of Gandhi.
The Agenda, formulated by Gandhi, contained four propositions, which may be summarized as follows: 1. “The present system of education does not meet the requirements of the country....” 2. “The course of primary education should be extended at least to seven years and should include the general knowledge gained up to the matriculation standard, less English and plus a substantial vocation.” 3. “For the all-round development of boys and girls all training should as far as possible be given through a profit-yielding vocation.” 4. “Higher education should be left to private enterprise and should be to meet national requirements whether in the various industries, technical arts, belles-letters or fine arts” (Varkay 3-4).
At the conclusion of the conference, four Resolutions were adopted. These had been proposed by a committee, which worked through the night, under the Chairmanship of Zakir Hussain. The resolutions were: 1. “That...free and compulsory education be provided for seven years on a nation-wide scale.” 2 “That the medium of instruction be the mother-tongue.” 3. “That ... the process of education ... should centre around some form of manual and productive work.... 4. “That...this system of education ... be gradually able to cover the remuneration of the teachers” (ibid 5-6). Afterwards a committee was formed to design a suitable syllabus and to submit its report to Gandhi. This report was submitted in December 1937. Thereafter, a second Report was published in 1938, with detailed clarifications and replies to objections raised against the first Report. This second Report contained detailed syllabi for three subjects, or crafts as Gandhi would have preferred to call them: agriculture, spinning, and weaving.
So, all these documents—Gandhi’s Inaugural Speech, the Agenda, the Resolutions, and the two Reports that followed, make up the kernel of Nai Talim or the New Education, that later became famous all over India.
What I propose to do here is not to examine these texts in great detail, but focus instead on Gandhi’s underlying principles of education upon which they were based. This will enable us to escape from an engagement with the nitty-gritty of the syllabus or of several other practical aspects of the scheme such as funding. In fact, most the objections and criticisms were aimed at these aspects while very few questioned the basic philosophy behind them. The latter is clearly voiced by Gandhi in his aforementioned Inaugural Address, to which we can now turn for a more detailed look.
Gandhi begins by explaining that his educational agenda includes both primary as well as higher or college education, but his emphasis is clearly on the former. Also that his ideas are an outcome of his extensive travels through Indian villages and his experience of rural life in South Africa (see Varkey 19-20). In other words, Gandhi’s educational philosophy was born out of his intense need to better the condition of rural India. As Kumarappa puts it, “Gandhiji saw that the only way of saving the nation at that juncture was to revive village economic life and to relate education to it. Education ... was to be based on village occupations. The child was to be trained to be a producer” (“Editor’s Note” to Basic Education: iii).
The first major point Gandhi makes in the Inaugural Address is that the prevalent system of education is defective: “I am convinced that the present system of primary education is not only wasteful but positively harmful” (Varkey 20). I suppose, we can still assent to this basic truth that Gandhi observed. His reasons for advancing such a claim are, however, equally important: “Most of the boys are lost to the parents and to the occupation to which they are born. They pick up evil habits, affect urban ways and get a smattering of something which may be anything but education” (ibid). Gandhi goes on to ask, “What then should be the form of primary education?” and answers his own question with what is the quintessence of his educational philosophy: “I think the remedy lies in educating them by means of vocational or manual training” (ibid).
The rest of the speech goes on the elaborate upon and explain the salient features of this scheme. First of all Gandhi tells that he came upon this method through his educational experiments in Tolstoy Farm, where he himself learned shoe making from his associate Kallenbach, who had been trained in a Trappist monastery (ibid). After telling us about the source of this ideas, he then clarifies that what he advocates is “not the teaching of some handicrafts side by side with so-called liberal education. I want that the whole of education should be imparted through some handicraft or industry” (ibid). I think this is the key sentence to which we will have to turn our attention in the second part of this paper. Gandhi believes that in the medieval ages, where education was craft-centred, there was little attempt to develop the intellect of the pupil (20-21). He therefore advocates the “imparting of the whole art and science of a craft through practical training and there-through imparting the whole education” (21). He give the example of takli-spinning, through which a student will not only garner knowledge of various varieties of cotton, but of different soil-types, of the ruin of native industries under colonialism, of the history of British rule in India, and of basic arithmetic (ibid). We might add that the pupil would also learn hand-eye coordination, besides developing his or her skills in concentration, balance, and physical intelligence. So, clearly, what Gandhi had in mind was a sort of holistic or composite education structured around the learning of a craft. Of course, the example of the takli is no accident. Gandhi was convinced that spinning was the panacea for India’s woes: “the takli is the only practical solution of our problem, considering the deplorable economic conditions prevailing in the country” (21). Gandhi advocates that primary education itself should focus on the takli and he actually devices a syllabus to that effect. But, mercifully, he also leaves it to the Congress Ministers to decide whether to accept or reject it (ibid). Gandhi’s emphasis on spinning was not all that irrational or fanatical; he believed that students would earn as they learned if they spun regularly. He thought that they could actually produce enough to support their teachers’ salaries! Besides, the cloth that they manufactured could be consumed by the students themselves and by their families. Gandhi envisaged a seven year course in primary education centred on spinning, which would culminate with lessons in weaving, dyeing, and designing (Varkey 22). By the end of the process, the pupil would have trade that would support him or her for life. At least that was the aim and the ideal.
Gandhi also insisted that his scheme for primary education would include “the elementary principles of sanitation, hygiene, nutrition,” besides “compulsory physical training through musical drill” (ibid). Gandhi refutes the charge that he is opposed to “literary training,” and rejects the accusation that his scheme would result in the exploitation of children. “Is it burdening the child to save him from disaster?” he asks. Besides, he argues, the takli is an effective toy, not just the source of livelihood (ibid). Unlike the present system which is wasteful, unaffordable, and alienating, Gandhi argues that his scheme would make students strong, confident, and useful to their parents and their country. Gandhi adds that his system would lead to communal harmony because it would be the same for all; it would this be “practical religion, the religion of self-help” (Varkey 23). Gandhi believes that his “plan springs out of non-violence” (ibid). It has the capacity to make students “true representatives of our culture, our civilization, of the true genius of our nation” (Varkey 23-24). We are not to follow Europe, Russia, or America, Gandhi says, because their systems are founded on violence and exploitation (Varkey 24).
When we examine the main ideas in this Inaugural Address, we find that they were in Gandhi’s mind for several decades. Though Nai Talim itself was launched in 1937 as we’ve just seen, Gandhi’s experiments with education, which began on the Tolstoy farm, were at least 30 years old. Similarly, the basis of many of his later ideas can be found in Chapter XVIII of Hind Swaraj (1909), that bible of non-violent revolution, which also contains most of the essential elements of the entire Gandhian violent arsenal. In this chapter, Gandhi clearly defines what he means by education. It is not merely “a knowledge of letters” (87). Quoting Huxley, Gandhi says that that person is properly educated “whose body is the ready servant of his will...; whose intellect is clear...; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of fundamental truths of nature...; whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will...;” (88). Gandhi is against the prevalent model of higher education because it alienates the student from society and stuffs him with largely irrelevant imported information. He his totally against the widespread use of English as the medium of instruction: “To give millions a knowledge of English is to enslave them. ... Is it not a sad commentary that we should have to speak of Home Rule in a foreign tongue?” (90). Gandhi later reserved a more limited place for English as a language of international communication. Gandhi also disapproved of “the pretension of learning many sciences” advocating instead “religious, that is ethical education” (92). In brief, in Hind Swaraj, Gandhi considers “character-building,” what is today known as value-education, as the “foundation” of his idea of education. And this foundation had to be built in primary education itself and ought to be compulsory.
Of course, we need to remember that Gandhi’s views were grounded in a larger perspective which might be termed anti-industrial, if not anti-modern. As Kumarappa puts it, Gandhi “was convinced that machine civilization ... brought enslavement and exploitation of vast sections of a nation and of industrially backward peoples” (Basic Education iv). So education was one of the several planks of his larger civilizational agenda, in which the independence of India was the main thrust. Gandhi’s educational ideals were thus meant to transform backward, illiterate, exploited, desperately poor peasants into self-confident and self-respecting citizens of a new community and nation. In that sense, Gandhi was the least elitist and most practical of our major educational thinkers of this century. Gandhi’s idea of culture can be summed up in his reply of to Rabindranath Tagore: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave,” Young India 1-6-21 (quoted in Towards New Education 9-10).
I think I would be useful to restate briefly the various facets of Gandhi’s educational philosophy as outlined above, reducing them to the following cardinal postulates: 1) Education means all round development; it is best obtained through action. 2) Education has to be through a craft, not merely through books and abstractions. 3) The basis of true education is character building; an educated person should become an ideal citizen. 4) Education should be self-supporting as far as possible and also equip the pupil to better his own economic conditions. 5) Education should be based on non-violence and should work for communal harmony. 6) The medium of instruction should be the mother-tongue, not English. 7) Primary education should be free and compulsory for all children and should last for at least seven years. 8) All educational planning should be undertaken with the rural Indian masses in mind; in other words, education should not be elitist, but popular in its character.
This is not the place to go into a detailed history of what happened to Nai Talim. Several states adopted the scheme even before independence, when Congress governments came to power, and there were several schools set up specifically to carry it out. And yet, today, Nai Talim is dead. I don’t know of a single institution in India where we can find it in practice. The reason is simple. The school boards follow a totally different system in which bookish knowledge is paramount. Therefore, no school, unless it wishes not to be affiliated to a recognized board, can afford to function purely on Gandhian lines. Even schools founded on Gandhian ideals do not follow Nai Talim. Instead, they have a superficial Gandhian veneer to them, found in such features as the all-religious prayer, the wearing of Khadi, the token insistence on manual labour, and the teaching of a supplementary craft such as spinning or carpentary. There is not a single institution that I know of where the whole of education is imparted through a craft. Similarly, far from being self-supporting, education has become almost the sole financial responsibility of the state. Funds are always in short supply, with the result that we are hardly closer to achieving a decent standard of literacy than we were fifty years ago. India has the largest number of illiterates in the world. Higher education is a white elephant; elitist, state-funded institutions produce students who escape to greener pastures at the first opportunity. It is with these facts in mind that we should approach the question of the relevance of Gandhi’s educational ideas in the coming millennium.

II
From the foregoing discussion, it will be clear that certain fundamental principles are intrinsic to Gandhi’s educational philosophy. These principles include equity, social justice, non-violence, human dignity, economic well being, and cultural self-respect. All of these can be subsumed into the broader, umbrella term of Swaraj. If we think of the coming decades from the point of view of Swaraj, we’ll see that there is much work to be done. In our country, especially, it is obvious that we are very far from achieving the ideal of Swaraj. There is tremendous inequality and injustice in our society. There is also an unconscionable gap between the rich and the poor. In addition to the old division of India and Bharat, we now have the third category of an international super class, resident in India, but living really in dollarized, global, air-conditioned habitat. Coming to education, each of these classes and sub-classes are marked by their own brand and type. Of course, the vast under class of over 400 million souls has no access to any sort of proper education at all. For them, only a Gandhian model, which requires the least amount of capital outlay, may do.
In other words, I would argue that the new century will be pretty much the same as the older ones for the poorest of the poor. It will also be marked by exploitation, violence, insecurity, poverty, hunger, and disease. For these, only a Gandhian model, or some modification thereof holds out some hope. In recent times, the work of Swadhyaya, based as it is on a concept like Kriti-Bhakti, comes to mind as an example of what might work. Pandurang Shastri Athavale, or Dada, told a small group of which I was a part, how the Collector of Rajkot approached him for his help in making Rajkot District 100% literate. At first, Dada replied: “This is not my job.” But, later, after some persuasion, agreed to help. Dada told the Collector: “This is how we’ll do it. Let’s divide the district into two parts. You take the responsibility for one part, and I will take the responsibility for the other. You make your half literate, I’ll make mine. But I’ll adopt my own methods. I’ll teach my wards shlokas, proverbs, stories, or whatever I think fit, but I’ll make them literate. Let’s compare our results after one year.” Anyone might have guessed what the outcome of that friendly competition was. Dada’s half became literate in eight months time, while the Collector’s half has probably not yet achieved its target. This example serves to highlight the inadequacy of the state apparatus in achieving social goals. Swadhyaya, which is based on a spiritual volunteerism, worked where paid government employees failed. I consider the methods of Swadhyaya to be Gandhian in that they are based on an inner awakening of the agent and the target of change rather than on external blandishments or subsidies.
Of course, coming back to the content of Nai Talim, it seems to me that the emphasis on learning through craft may be retained, but perhaps modified to suit the times. Perhaps, computer education could be imparted on the Nai Talim model, as a revenue generating learning tool and toy for children, instead of the takli. I know this idea would sound shocking, even blasphemous, to traditional Gandhians, but perhaps Gandhi might have been the first to take to some of revolutionary changes in communications technology that are impacting our world. Gandhi himself made extensive use of the telegraph, if not the telephone in his work. Of course, Gandhian questions about the economic configuration and impact of any new technology would have to be taken into account. Who has invented the technology? Whose interests does it serve? I am afraid, the answers to these questions will reveal how the powerful produce and deploy technology to maintain their positions. And yet, the genetic structure of all technologies is not the same. Some have the power to reduce inequality, while others are programmed to increase it. If the personal computer is seen as a tool which empowers individuals rather than corporations or governments, then I am sure we shall not miss its potential to make our world a better place. Similarly, the internet has already created a borderless virtual world. Once again, we see a battle by the commercial interests to take control of this new technology, but there is so much free information and free ware available that their designs will not be entirely successful.
What I have been suggesting is that when we regard the onset of the new Millennium, we are confronted with at least two contrasting possibilities. On the one hand the world order struggling to be born will be as bad as or worse than the one which controls our lives today. We may even conjure up dystopias in which cloning, organ harvesting, and computers rule become realities. On the other hand, we might be more hopeful and optimistic, praying for a healthier, happier, and more prosperous tomorrow, with less inequality and human misery, a world without wars and disease, without starvation and suffering.
Gandhian educational ideas, founded as they are on certain eternal principles, will not lose their fundamental relevance in the years to come. Our planners will have to think of a self-supporting primary education, which will improve the lot of the poorest of the poor. That such an education would be based on action, problem-solving, and practical activity, rather than mere book learning is also perfectly valid. An integral education, which allows the whole being of a person to grow, an education which emphases character-building and cultural identity, is once again, obviously desirable. It is equally clear that we have failed miserably in our state-sponsored schemes to provide free, compulsory primary education to all. The Gandhian model, therefore, retains its relevance and attractiveness. However, whether such an education can be imparted solely or primarily through the learning of a craft, and whether the potential beneficiaries or the state will accept it remains to be seen. Finally, the Gandhian model needs, in my opinion, a built-in mechanism of absorbing or confronting the newer and newer technologies that are emerging each day. As it stands, it seems to be somewhat backward looking, or at any rate, designed for a static societie in which stable ancestral occupations persist from generation to generation. I think that the coming age will be one of phenomenal and unprecedented change. But this does not mean that the perennial values that Gandhi lived by and advocated will lose their influence. What this does mean is that we shall have to find newer and newer ways to interpret, understand, impart, and live them out.

mahatma gandhi on education
His critique of western, particularly English, education was part of his critique of Western 'civilization' as a whole. Barry Burke explores his vision.
contents: · early life · swaraj and swadishi · on education · references · links ·
The real difficulty 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. The girls, we say, do not have to earn; so why should they be educated? As long as such ideas persist there is no hope of our ever knowing the true value of education. (M. K. Gandhi True Education on the NCTE site)
In a piece published some years ago, Krishna Kumar, Professor of Education at Delhi University, wrote that 'no one rejected colonial education as sharply and as completely as Gandhi did, nor did anyone else put forward an alternative as radical as the one he proposed'. Gandhi’s critique of Western, particularly English, education was part of his critique of Western civilization as a whole. There is a story that, on arriving in Britain after he had become famous, someone asked him the question: 'Mr Gandhi, what do you think of civilization in England?' to which he replied 'I think that it would be something worth trying!'
Early life
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbander on the West coast of India. He had a reasonably conventional middle class Indian upbringing. His father (Karamchand) was the senior official (dewan or prime minister) of a small Indian state (Porbandar) before moving on to be the chief karbhari (adviser) in the principality of Rajkot. He looked to his son to follow in his footsteps. Gandhi went to school, did not particularly excel at anything but learned the things that were expected of him. He married in 1882, aged 13. His wife, Kasturbai Makanji who was also 13, was the daughter of a local merchant and was chosen for him. (Gandhi was later to speak strongly of the ‘cruel custom of child marriage’). At the end of his formal schooling he decided that he wanted to be a lawyer. To do this he had to come to England to enroll at the Inner Temple. He was called to the Bar in the summer of 1891. On his return to India, he found that he could not make a successful career as a lawyer so he moved to South Africa in 1893.
His experiences in South Africa changed his life. While he was there, he came face to face with blatant racism and discrimination of a kind that he had never witnessed in India. The humiliation he felt at the hands of officials turned him from a meek and unassertive individual into a determined political activist. He had originally gone to South Africa on a one year contract to work for an Indian law firm in Natal Province. There he took up various grievances on behalf of the Indian community and gradually found himself first as their advocate on civil rights issues and finally as their leader in a political movement against racial discrimination and for South African Indian rights. His methods were unusual. He launched a struggle against the authorities which in keeping with his strict Hindu beliefs was based on a strict adherence to non-violence. This meant that it consisted of passive resistance - the peaceful violation of certain laws, the courting of collective arrests (he urged his followers to fill the jails), non-co­operation with the authorities, boycotts and spectacular marches. These methods were later to be perfected back in India in the fight for independence from the British Empire.
Gandhi’s ideas were gradually perfected as a result of his South African experiences. Throughout his life, the ideas he formed in these first few years in South Africa were to be developed to fit various changed circumstances in the fight for Indian independence. They were, however, set within a global context of a total rejection of modern civilization. His rejection of 'modern' or Western civilization was all encompassing. He described it as the 'Kingdom of Satan' polluting everyone it touched. Modernization in the form of industrialization, machinery, parliamentary government, the growth of the British Empire and all the things that most people regarded as progress, Gandhi rejected. In opposition to modern civilization he counter posed ancient Indian civilization with its perceived emphasis on village communities that were self-sufficient and self-governing. He was concerned with the stranglehold that Western civilization had over India. The materialistic values that the British Raj imposed on India had to be countered by the spirituality of Ancient India. Time and time again throughout his life he would return to this theme of the need to revert to what he called their 'own glorious civilization' which was far superior to anything modern society could offer.
Swaraj and Swadeshi
What Gandhi was looking for was what he called swaraj and swadeshi. These two terms taken together represent the type of society that Gandhi was looking for. Swaraj, very badly translates as independence/autonomy/home rule/self rule. Swadeshi can be translated as self-sufficiency or self-reliance.
Swaraj for Gandhi was not simply a question of ousting the British from India and declaring independence. What it implied was a wholly different type of society. He did not want the British to be replaced by Indians doing exactly the same. If that was all they achieved, they would not have achieved true freedom but merely the same type of government run by a different set of men. He wanted the value system and life style of the British Raj to be done away with and totally replaced by a simpler, more spiritual, communal life. This new type of society, reflecting the old values of pre-colonial days, was to be based on the village. He stated that:
[I]ndependence must begin at the bottom. Thus every village will be a republic ... having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs. Thus, ultimately, it is the individual who is the unit. This does not exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbours or from the world... In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever-widening, never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom.
Gandhi’s vision for a new India entailed that 'every religion has its full and equal place'. (He was totally opposed to the partition of India). Equally, 'there would be no room for machines that would displace human labour and that would concentrate power in a few hands'.
In his Collected Works there is a passage, written in 1942, that amplifies his ideas on the role of the village. He states that 'my idea of village swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is a necessity'. He continues:
Thus every villages first concern will be to grow its own food crops and cotton for its cloth. It should have a reserve for its cattle, recreation and playground for adults and children. Then, if there is more land available, it will grow useful money crops, thus excluding ganja, tobacco, opium and the like. The village will maintain a village theatre, school and public hail. It will have its own waterworks, ensuring clean water supply. This can be done through controlled wells or tanks. Education will be compulsory up to the final basic course. As far as possible every activity will be conducted on the co-operative basis. There will be no castes such as we have today with their graded untouchability. Non-violence with its technique of... non-cooperation will be the sanction of the village community. There will be a compulsory service of village guards who will be selected by rotation from the register maintained by the village. The government of the village will be conducted by a [council] of five persons annually elected by the adult villagers, male and female, possessing minimum prescribed qualifications. These will have all the authority and jurisdiction required. Since there will be no system of punishments in the accepted sense, this [council] will be the legislature, judiciary and executive combined to operate for its year of office.
Gandhi was quite certain that any village could become such a republic straight away without much interference even from the colonial government because he beleived that their sole effective connection with the villages was the collection of village taxes. All that was needed was the will to do it. He referred to his ideal state as one of 'enlightened anarchy in which each person will become his own ruler'. It is interesting to see that throughout his writings on the autonomous self-sufficient village communities we see echoes of the anarchist lifestyles proposed by such writers as Tolstoy or Thoreau in the nineteenth century.
On education
Given Gandhi’s values and his vision of what constituted a truly civilized and free India, it was not surprising that he developed firm views on education. Education not only moulds the new generation, but reflects a society’s fundamental assumptions about itself and the individuals which compose it. His experience in South Africa not only changed his outlook on politics but also helped him to see the role education played in that struggle. He was aware that he had been a beneficiary of Western education and for a number of years while he was in South Africa he still tried to persuade Indians to take advantage of it. However, it was not until the early years of this century, when he was in his middle thirties, that he became so opposed to English education that he could write about 'the rottenness of this education' and that 'to give millions a knowledge of English is to enslave them ... that, by receiving English education, we have enslaved the nation'. He was enraged that he had to speak of Home Rule or Independence in what was clearly a foreign tongue, that he could not practice in court in his mother tongue, that all official documents were in English as were all the best newspapers and that education was carried out in English for the chosen few. He did not blame the colonial powers for this. He saw that it was quite logical that they would want an elite of native Indians to become like their rulers in both manners and values. In this way, the Empire could be consolidated. Gandhi blamed his fellow Indians for accepting the situation. Later in his life he was to declare that 'real freedom will come only when we free ourselves of the domination of Western education, Western culture and Western way of living which have been ingrained in us .. . Emancipation from this culture would mean real freedom for us'.
As we have seen, Gandhi had not only rejected colonial education but also put forward a radical alternative. So what was this alternative? What was so radical about it?
First of all, I need to say a word about Gandhi’s attitude to industrialization. He was, in fact, absolutely opposed to modern machinery. In his collected works, he refers to machinery as having impoverished India, that it was difficult to measure the harm that Manchester had done to them by producing machine-made cloth which, in turn, ruined the internal market for locally produced handwoven goods. Typically of Gandhi, however, he does not blame Manchester or the mill owners. 'How can Manchester be blamed?' he writes. 'We wore Manchester cloth and this is why Manchester wove it'. However, he notes that where cloth mills were not introduced in India, in places such as Bengal, the original hand-weaving occupation was thriving. Where they did have mills e.g. in Bombay, he felt that the workers there had become slaves. He was shocked by the conditions of the women working in the mills of Bombay and made the point that before they were introduced these women were not starving. He maintained that 'if the machinery craze grows in our country, it will become an unhappy land'. What he wanted was for Indians to boycott all machine-made goods not just cloth. He was quite clear when he asked the question 'What did India do before these articles were introduced?' and then answered his own question by stating 'Precisely the same should be done today. As long as we cannot make pins without machinery, so long will we do without them. The tinsel splendour of glassware we will have nothing to do with, and we will make wicks, as of old, with home-grown cotton and use hand­made earthen saucers or lamps. So doing, we shall save our eyes and money and support swadeshi and so shall we attain Home Rule'.
Within this context of the need for a machine-less society, Gandhi developed his ideas on education. The core of his proposal was the introduction of productive handicrafts in the school curriculum. The idea was not simply to introduce handicrafts as a compulsory school subject, but to make the learning of a craft the centrepiece of the entire teaching programme. It implied a radical restructuring of the sociology of school knowledge in India, where productive handicrafts had been associated with the lowest groups in the hierarchy of the caste system. Knowledge of the production processes involved in crafts, such as spinning, weaving, leather-work, pottery, metal-work, basket-making and bookbinding, had been the monopoly of specific caste groups in the lowest stratum of the traditional social hierarchy. Many of them belonged to the category of ‘untouchables’. India’s own tradition of education as well as the colonial education system had emphasized skills such as literacy and acquisition of knowledge of which the upper castes had a monopoly.
Gandhi’s proposal intended to stand the education system on its head. The social philosophy and the curriculum of what he called ‘basic education’ thus favoured the child belonging to the lowest stratum of society. in such a way it implied a programme of social transformation. It sought to alter the symbolic meaning of ‘education’ and to change the established structure of opportunities for education.
Why Gandhi proposed the introduction of productive handicrafts into the school system was not really as outrageous as may appear. What he really wanted was for the schools to be self-supporting, as far as possible. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, a poor society such as India simply could not afford to provide education for all children unless the schools could generate resources from within. Secondly, the more financially independent the schools were, the more politically independent they could be. What Gandhi wanted to avoid was dependence on the state which he felt would mean interference from the centre. Above all else, Gandhi valued self-sufficiency and autonomy. These were vital for his vision of an independent India made up of autonomous village communities to survive. It was the combination of swaraj and swadeshi related to the education system. A state system of education within an independent India would have been a complete contradiction as far as Gandhi was concerned.
He was also of the opinion that manual work should not be seen as something inferior to mental work. He felt that the work of the craftsman or labourer should be the ideal model for the ‘good life’. Schools which were based around productive work where that work was for the benefit of all were, therefore, carrying out education of the whole person - mind, body and spirit.
The right to autonomy that Gandhi’s educational plan assigns to the teacher in the context of the school’s daily curriculum is consistent with the libertarian principles that he shared with Tolstoy. Gandhi wanted to free the Indian teacher from interference from outside, particularly government or state bureaucracy. Under colonial rule, the teacher had a prescribed job to do that was based on what the authorities wanted the children to learn. Textbooks were mandatory so that Gandhi found that 'the living word of the teacher has very little value. A teacher who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils'. Gandhi’s plan, on the other hand, implied the end of the teacher’s subservience to the prescribed textbook and the curriculum. It presented a concept of learning that simply could not be fully implemented with the help of textbooks. Of equal, if not more importance, was the freedom it gave the teacher in matters of curriculum. It denied the state the power to decide what teachers taught and what they did in the classroom. It gave autonomy to the teacher but it was, above all, a libertarian approach to schooling that transferred power from the state to the village.
Gandhi’s basic education was, therefore, an embodiment of his perception of an ideal society consisting of small, self-reliant communities with his ideal citizen being an industrious, self-respecting and generous individual living in a small co­operative community.
For informal educators, we can draw out a number of useful pointers. First, Gandhi’s insistence on autonomy and self-regulation is reflected in the ethos of informal education. Gandhi’s conception of basic education was concerned with learning that was generated within everyday life which is the basis on which informal educators work. It was also an education focused on the individual but reliant on co-operation between individuals. There is also a familar picture of the relationships between educators and students/learners:
A teacher who establishes rapport with the taught, becomes one with them, learns more from them than he teaches them. He who learns nothing from his disciples is, in my opinion, worthless. Whenever I talk with someone I learn from him. I take from him more than I give him. In this way, a true teacher regards himself as a student of his students. If you will teach your pupils with this attitude, you will benefit much from them. (Talk to Khadi Vidyalaya Students, Sevagram, Sevak, 15 February 1942 CW 75, p. 269)
Lastly, it was an education that aimed at educating the whole person, rather than concentrating on one aspect. It was a highly moral activity.
Medium Of Education
I find daily proof of the increasing & continuing wrong being done to the millions by our false de-Indianizing education.
We seem to have come to think that no one can hope to be like a Bose unless he knows English. I cannot conceive a grosser superstition than this. No Japanese feels so helpless as we seem to do....
The medium of instruction should be alerted at once, and at any cost, the provincial languages being given their rightful place. I would prefer temporary chaos in higher education to the criminal waste that is daily accumulating.
Education through a foreign Language entails a certain degree of strain, and our boys have to pay dearly for it. To a large extent, they lose the capacity of shouldering any other burden afterwards., for they become a useless lot who are weak of body, without any zest for work and imitators of the West. They have little interest in original research or deep thinking, and the qualities of courage, perseverance. bravery and fearlessness are lacking. That is why we are unable to make new plans or carry our projects to meet our problems. In case we make them to fail to implement them. A few who do show promise usually die young.......
We, the English educated people alone are unable to assess the great loss that this factor has caused. Some idea of its immensity would be had if we could estimate how little we have influenced the general mass of our people.
The school must be an extension of home there must be concordance between the impressions which a child gathers at home and at school, if the best results are to be obtained. Education through the medium of strange tongue breaks the concordance which should exist. Those who breaks this relationship are enemies of the people even though their motives may be honest. To be a voluntary victim of this system of education is as good as the betrayal of our duty towards our mothers. The harm done by this alien type of education does not stop here; it goes much further. It has produced a gulf between the educated classes and the masses. The people look on us as beings apart from them.
It is my considered opinion that English education in the manner it has been given has emasculated the English educated Indian, it has put a severe strain upon the Indian students' nervous energy and has made of us imitators. The process of displacing the vernaculars has been one of the saddest chapters in the British connection. Ram Mohan Roy would have been a greater reformer, and Lokmanya Tilak would have been a greater scholar, if they had not to start with the handicap of having to think in English and transmit their thoughts chiefly in English. Their effect on their own people, marvelous as it was, would have been greater if they would have been brought under a less unnatural system. No doubt they both gained from their knowledge of the rich treasures of English literature. But these should have been accessible to them through their own vernaculars. No country can become a nation by producing a race of imitators.
English is today studied because of its commercial and so called political value. Our boys think and rightly in the present circumstances, that without English they cannot get Government service. Girls are taught English as a passport to marriage. I know several instances of women wanting to learn English so that they may be able to talk in English. I know families in which English is made a mother tongue. Hundreds of youth believe that without the Knowledge of English, freedom of India is practically impossible. The canker has so eaten into the society that in many cases the only meaning of education is Knowledge of English. All these are for me signs of our slavery and degradation. It is unbearable to me that the vernaculars should be crushed and starved as they have been. I cannot tolerate the idea of parents writing to their children, or husbands writing to their wives, not in their own vernaculars but in English.
The foreign medium has caused brains fag, 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 for filtrating their learning to the family or the masses. The foreign medium has made our children practically foreigners in their own lands. It is the greatest tragedy of the existing system. The foreign medium has prevented the growth of our vernaculars. If I had the powers of a despot, I would today stop the tuitions of our boys and girls through a foreign medium and require all the teachers and professors on pain of dismissal to introduce the change forthwith. I would not wait for the preparation of Text books. They will follow the change. It is an evil that need a summary remedy.
Among the many evils of foreign rule, this blighting imposition of a foreign medium upon the youth of the country will be counted by history as one of the greatest. It has sapped the energy of the nation, it has estranged them for the masses, it has made education unnecessarily expensive. If this process is still persisted in, it bids fair to rob the nation of its soul. The sooner, therefore educated India shakes itself free from the hypnotic spell of the foreign medium, the better it would be for them and the people.
Source: "The selected works of Gandhi", Vol. 6, The Voice of Truth
Basic Education
The ancient aphorism "Education is that which liberates ", is as true as it was before. Education here does not mean mere spiritual knowledge, nor does liberation signify spiritual liberation after death. Knowledge includes all training that is useful for the service of mankind and liberation means freedom of all manner of servitude is of two kinds: slavery to domination from outside and to one's own artificial needs. The knowledge acquired in the pursuit of this ideal alone contributes true study.
Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind. Inquisitiveness should be tempered by humility and respectful regard for the teacher. It must not degenerate into impudence. The latter is the enemy of the receptivity of mind. There can be no knowledge without humility and the will to learn.
Education must be of a new type for the sake of the creation of the new world.
Everyone of us has good inherent in the soul it needs to be drawn out by the teachers, and only those teachers can perform this sacred function whose own character is unsullied, who are always ready to learn and to grow from perfection to perfection.
Useful manual labour, intelligently performed is the means par excellence for developing the intellect......A balance intellect presupposes a harmonious growth of body mind & soul..... An intellect that is developed through the medium of socially useful labour will be an instrument for service and will not easily be led astray or fall into devious paths.
Craft, Art, Health and education should all be integrated into one scheme. Nai Talim is a beautiful blend of all the four and covers the whole education of the individual from the time of conception to the moment of death...... Instead of regarding craft & industry as different from education. I will regard the former as the medium for the latter.
Our system of education leads to the development of the mind, body and soul. The ordinary system cares only for the mind.
The teachers earn what they take. It stands for the art of living. Therefore, both the teacher and the learning. It enriches life from the commencement. It makes the nation independent of the search for employment.
It is popularly and correctly described as education through handicrafts. This is part of the truth. The root of this new education goes much deeper. It lies in the application of the truth and love in every variety of human activity, weather in individual life or a corporate one. The notion of education through handicrafts rises from the contemplation of truth and love permeating life's activities. Love requires that true education should be easily accessible to all, and should be of use to every villager in his daily life. such education is not derived from nor does it depend upon books. It has no relation to sectional religion. If it can be called religious, it is universal religion from which all select ional religions are derived. Therefore it is learned from the book of life which costs nothing and which cannot be taken away from one by any force on earth.
I hold that the largest time is devoted of our time is devoted to labour for earning our bread, our children must from their infancy be taught the dignity of such labour. Our children should not be taught as to despise labour. There is no reason why a peasants son after having gone to school should become useless as he does become, as an agricultural laborer.
To Students
Character cannot be built with mortar and stone. It cannot be built by hands other than your own. The Principal and the professor cannot give you character from the pages of the books. Character building comes from their very lives and really speaking, it must come within yourselves.
Put all tour knowledge, learning & scholarship in one scale and truth and purity in the other and the latter will far outweigh the other. The miasma of moral impurity has today spread among our school going children and like a hidden epidemic is working havoc among them. All your scholarship, all your study of the scriptures will be in vain if you fail to translate their teachings into your daily life.....
If teachers impart all the knowledge in the world to their students but inculcate not truth and purity among them., they will have betrayed them and instead of raising them set them on the downward road to perdition. Knowledge without character is a power for evil only, as seen in the instances of so many talented thieves and gentlemen rascals in the world.
As to use of the vacation by students, if will they approach the work with zeal, they can undoubtedly do many things. I enumerate a few of them:
1. Conduct night & day schools with just a short course , well conceived , to last the period of the vacation.
2. Visit Harijan quarters and clean them, taking the assistance of Harijan if they would give it.
3. Taking Harijan children for excursions, showing them sights near the villages and teaching them how to study nature, and generally interesting them in their surroundings giving them by the way a working knowledge of geography & history.
4. Reading to them simple stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
5. Teaching them simple Bhajans.
6. Cleaning the Harijan boys of all the dirt that they would find about their persons and giving both the grown ups and the children simple lessons in hygiene.
7. Taking a detailed census in selected areas of the conditions of the Harijans.
8. Taking medical aid to the ailing Harijans. This is but a sample of what is possible to do among the Harijans. It is a list hurriedly made, but a thoughtful student will, I have no doubt, add many other items.
You are at the hope of the future. You will be called upon, when you are discharged from your colleges and schools, to enter upon public life to lead the poor people of this country. I would, therefore like you students to have a sense of your responsibility and show it in a much tangible manner. It is a remarkable fact, and a regrettable fact, that in the case of the vast majority of the students, whilst they entertain noble impulses during their student days, these disappear when they finish their studies. The vast majority of them look out for loaves and fishes. Surely there is something wrong in this. There is one reason which is obvious. Every educational system is faulty. It dos not respond to the requirements of the country, certainly not to the requirements of pauper India. There is no correspondence between the education that is given and the home life and the village life.
These are not necessities of life. There are some who manage to take ten cups of coffee a day. Is it necessary for their healthy development and for keeping them awake, let them not drink coffee or tea but go to sleep. We must not become slaves to these things. But the majority of the people who drink coffee or tea are slaves to them. Cigars and Cigarettes, wealth foreign or indigenous must be avoided.
Cigarette smoking is like an opiate and the cigars that you smoke have a touch of opium about them. They get to your nerves and you cannot leave them afterwards. How can a single student foul his mouth in converting it into a chimney? If you give up these habits of smoking cigars and cigarettes and drinking coffee and tea you will find out for yourselves how much you are able to save.
A drunkard in Tolstoy's story is hesitating to execute his design of murder so long as he has not smoked his cigar. But he puffs it, and then gets up smiling and saying, "What a coward am I !" takes the dagger and does the deed. Tolstoy spoke from experience of it. And he is much more against cigars and cigarettes than against drinks. But do not make the mistake that between drink and tobacco, drink is a lesser evil. No. If cigarette is Beelzebub than drink is Satan.
The students should be above all humble, and correct.... The greatest to remain great has to be the lowliest by choice. If I can speak from my knowledge of Hindu belief, the life of the student is to correspond to the life of the sanyasi up to the time his studies end. He is to be under the strictest discipline. He cannot marry, nor indulge in dissipation. He cannot indulge in drinks and the like. His behaviour is to be a pattern of exemplary self-resistant.
Source: "The selected works of Gandhi", Vol. 6, The Voice of Truth
Quote of Gandhi on Education
An education which does not teach us to discriminate between good and bad, to assimilate the one and eschew the other, is a misnomer.
Education should be so revolutionized as to answer the wants of the poorest villager, instead of answering those of an imperial exploiter.
Education in the understanding of citizenship is a short-term affair if we are honest and earnest.
Basic education links the children, whether of cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in India.
Is not education the art of drawing out full manhood of the children under training?
Literacy in itself is no education.
Literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning.
Literacy education should follow the education of the hand-the one gift that visibly distinguishes man from beast.
Real education has to draw out the best from the boys and girls to be educated.
True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth.
What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education.
National education to be truly national must reflect the national condition for the time being.
The function of Nayee-Talim is not to teach an occupation, but through it to develop the whole man.
I believe that religious education must be the sole concern of religious associations.
By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man-body, mind and spirit.
By spiritual training I mean education of the heart.
Experience gained in two schools under my control has taught me that punishment does not purify, if anything, it hardens children.
I consider writing as a fine art. We kill it by imposing the alphabet on little children and making it the beginning of learning.
I do regard spinning and weaving as the necessary part of any national system of education.
The aim of university education should be to turn out true servants of the people who will live and die for the country's freedom.
A balanced intellect presupposes a harmonious growth of body, mind and soul.
Love requires that true education should be easily accessible to all and should be of use to every villager in this daily life.
The notion of education through handicrafts rises from the contemplation of truth and lovepermeating life's activities.
The fees that you pay do not cover even a fraction of the amount that is spent on your education from the public exchanger.
Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind.
If we want to impart education best suited to the needs of the villagers, we should take the vidyapith to the villages.
In a democratic scheme, money invested in the promotion of learning gives a tenfold return to the people even as a seed sown in good soil returns a luxuriant crop.
All education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country in which it is given.
The schools and colleges are really a factory for turning out clerks for Government.
The canker has so eaten into the society that in many cases the only meaning of education is a knowledge of English.
The emphasis laid on the principle of spending every minute of one's life usefully is the best education for citizenship.
Gandhi’s Views On Youth as an Agent of Social Transformation
"What is my inheritance? To what am I an heir? To all that humanity has achieved during tens of thousands of years, to all that is has felt and suffered and taken pleasure in, to its cries and triumphs and its bitter agony of defeat, to that astonishing adventure of man which began so long ago and yet continues and beckons to us.To all this and more in common with all men. But there is a special heritage for those of us of India, not an exclusive one, for none is exclusive and all are common to the race of man, one more especially applicable to us, something that is in our flesh and blood and bones, that has gone to make us what we are and what we are likely to be........an agent........an agent for social transformation!Today we are here to present our research on Gandhiji's views on youth as an agent for social transformation. Even as we sit here in this gathering peacefully little do we know that there is a war being waged. A war where the youth of nation will actively participate...a war of good vs. evil, a war of virtues vs. vices, a war of knowledge of science vs. wisdom of soul, a war of material prosperity vs. peace of mind, a war of education vs. character building, a war of professional management vs. socialcommitment.The lines for battle have been drawn and this battle will be fought on three fronts;
the Environment frontthe Social front andthe Individual front
This will indeed be a unique battle where everyone will emerge as a winner. What are the weapons to be used in this war?
Right Conduct, Love, Co-operation, Justice, Equality, Patriotism, Non-Violence, Peace, Excellence and last but not the least, the all powerful weapon of Truth.The able-bodied soldiers namely the youth of India are being lead by none else but our beloved Mahatma as the Commander-in-chief.Let us take a closer look at the various strategies that we shall be using in this war and how we shall tackle the enemy on each front. One important factor to be remembered is that this battle started nearly a hundred years ago when the Mahatma himself fought in the ranks of a soldier and continues till date. It is important to know the history of this war before we decide what tactics are to be adopted in the future. Hence we need to visit each of the warfronts to get a better idea.

The Environmental Front
Let us deal with this battlefield in a Gandhian manner by incorporating the two vital issues of Peace and Patriotism. Right from the beginning of human life, the entire humanity has been craving for peace at different levels such as individual, social, communal, national and international levels. Gandhiji was of the view that peace is a feeling which is to be emotionally experienced by everyone. It is experienced when emotional equilibrium and self-equilisation is achieved. It is this superpower, he felt, which if realised, leads to eternal happiness. Attainment of peace should be the ultimate goal of any youthful human emotions and actions. Once their minds are at rest they can concentrate their energies for spreading the message of peace. Youth should know that social harmony is an index of peace. They should strive peacefully to make their and other people's social lives happy and undisturbed which is the aim of any society. Gandhiji also warned youngsters against misinterpreting religions. All the religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. have preached peace and harmony. The advocacy of war was for the purpose of saving the religion, performing one's duty and eliminating the veils so that society can enjoy a happy and peaceful life. Mahatma Gandhi himself made skillful use of Satyagraha to achieve peace and harmony and thus proved his point. He always believed that peace contains a negative and a positive sense; the absence of configuration, elimination of wars, absence of conflicts between different classes, castes, religions, and nations is a negative sense and love, rest, mental equilibrium, harmony, co-operation, unity, happiness are the positive indices of peace.In broader sense, peace would include social harmony which involves natural resources. Gandhiji believed that natural resources are the primary sources for valuable and useful commodities. They are mainly raw materials and energy resources present in the environment. e.g. minerals, forest, animals, water, soil. Youth should ensure its proper utilisation and conservation. This would imply rational use of resources and their preservation from reckless exploitation and destruction. Gandhiji's love for animals is known to all. He further advocated effective control and management of resources in such a way that they will be useful to man for longer time. He underlined young student's importance in ensuring uniform distribution of all resources.In the same context of environment another weapon that Gandhiji has provided us with is Patriotism. The nation, he emphasised, is built on the foundation of selfless devotions by its citizens. Young people are vibrant, energetic and enthusiastic. They should show the same enthusiasm when the nation demands for sacrifice of their wealth, their lives, their families etc. Gandhiji often recited a verse in Sanskrit stating that Mother and Motherland are superior to Heaven. He went to the extent of coining his own definition of Patriotism wherein he described it as a sense of loyalty and affection to the soil, the national symbols etc. This feeling, sentiment or attitude of patriotism, he believed would make youth serve the nation selflessly.

Let us now consider the battle taking place on THE SOCIAL FRONT :
History has numerous instances of old and well-established civilizations fading away or being ended suddenly, and vigorous new cultures taking their place. It is some vital energy, some inner source of strength that gives life to civilization or people without which all efforts are ineffective, like the vain attempt of an aged person to play the part of a youth? Such was the vitality attached to young students by our beloved Father of the Nation!So what is this social transformation that he was referring to using youth as a catalyst?Society, as defined, is a group of individuals dwelling together who symbiotically carries out various activities to bring happiness and stabilization. As it is a unique blend of diverse religions, cultures, and races its structure keeps changing with respect to time. After all, nothing is constant but "change" ! Gandhiji had stressed upon youth participation in bringing out various social reforms during his struggle for independence in the Sati Pratha, Polygamy, Child marriage, Education of women, Widow remarriage, Untouchability, Caste system, Exploitation and Religious misguidance. And the attributes that make youth swim through were Non-violence, Co-operation, Justice, Equality and Love. Non-violence, Gandhiji advocated, has a religious, social, spiritual and personal significance. Force or aggression leads to a total destruction of society. Violent feelings provoke conflicts which grow in strength and threaten the very society it was initially supposed to protect. As violence or force grows in size it takes a negative and destructive path and affects society. The only force, Mahatma Gandhi proposed was fasting which could be coercive but upright. The path proposed was of Non-co-operation, boycott or Satyagraha. Let us not forget that satyagraha was the subtle force which he used to shake the very foundation of the British Empire! He believed in the destruction of the false and the wicked by non-violence which would eventually result in the ultimate triumph of good over all evil.Gandhiji described the term co-operation as all individuals coming together to achieve the designed goals and all of them sharing the fruits of the achievements. Nobody is overburdened nor over regarded. Youth should co-operate with elders and children. It should be looked upon as a way of life. "Vina Sahakar Nahi Uddhar" (No prosperity without co-operation). He underlined that co-operation is the basis for peace, love, equality and justice. Mahatma Gandhi advocated joint families and village communities as the co-operation among different individuals, classes, castes and groups in the society ensures growth in all walks of human life from basic needs of food clothing and shelter to more complex requirement of the people like industries, transportation, recreation, finance etc. Gandhiji also proposed the young entrepreneurs concept to achieve primary objectives of growth and equality. Gandhiji wanted youth against the misuse of Co-operation like undue publicisation, excessive government intervention, exploitation, promotion of self-interest etc.Love, as per the Mahatma, is a feeling or sentiment which originates in the soul. Love for young people is a form of energy which would charge them every now and then. The entire structure of society is built upon a sound foundation of love. He advocated love strongly as it develops co-operation and a sense of understanding that makes the entire society happy. Equality, in youth, is a noble, desirable and valuable principle. A comparison between two individuals, groups, societies, natures etc. is against the natural Law, said Mahatma. After all everyone is equal in the eyes of God. Is it logical, leave alone ethical to say that one person is superior to another? Accordingly Gandhiji appealed youngsters to strive towards nullifying the wide gap between various sections of the society. He proposed elimination of all sorts of artificial discrimination, exploitation and oppression to establish equality. Men and Women are equal. They complement each other through the different functions they person in a society. He once stated that "If we do not efface untouchability we shall all be effaced from the face of the Earth". Caste, he felt does not connote superiority or inferiority. It simply recognizes difference in outlooks and corresponding modes of life. He proposed youth to provide equal protection and security to all. Economic inequality implying concentration of wealth and income in few hands is the root cause of political instability and social inequality. He further suggested abolition of exploitation, forced labor, sexual discrimination so as to restore social harmony. Untouchability, according to him was an offence it was one of those evils which plagued society, a crime against not only humanity but against God. Unity and Equality were their core values on which a nation rests. About justice he said that there exists a close relationship between equality and justice. Youth must know that justice is done when equality is established and when equality exists justice is done. Justice is natural or Godly ensuring the balance in the universe through young exercisers. Young people should treat justice in all fronts morel, social, political, economic. Justice is normative connotation depending upon the accepted morals of the society the predictions and customs instituted by the society for betterment of all. What is more important for youth is spreading the light of justice and creating awareness.

We now move over to the INDIVIDUAL FRONT:
The third warfront where the war is being fought is individual level. i.e. the young mind itself !Here Gandhiji advocated the principles of Right Conduct. Excellence and Truth as the effective weapons with which to fight this war.Gandhiji was himself a disciple of the "BHAGWAD GEETA" and exalted the younger generation to follow it too. The Gita mentions three different qualities viz. Satva, Rajas and Tamas.
In case of Tamas the happening comes from violence and laziness. In case of Rajas it comes from material gains. Gandhiji proposed that the youth follow the Satvik model where happiness is inward development, i.e. it emphasizes the inclusion of basic human values. Right conducts refers to a set of norms or code of conduct accepted by the society on the basis of thoughtful behavior and is displayed when we discharge our duties and various actions such as obedience, etiquettes, fulfillment of social obligations, co-operation, sympathy etc. The youth should take into consideration various dimensions of their conduct such as the social, cultural, religious and the political aspect. Especially in young people, there is a constant flow of energy. They are dynamic, vibrant and excessively energetic. Hence it becomes all the more necessary for them to discharge their energies in a positive manner to attain long-term happiness and goodwill in society and to contribute to the progress of society. Gandhiji often reiterated the Hindu philosophy of Moksha or Salvation. According to him a Sadachari - a person with right conduct is ensured a place in heaven, while it is believed that a sinner will go to hell. He therefore stressed on Truth, Humanity, Sacrifice and Non-avarices the important element of right conduct. Right conduct, he believed, comes from the right education and education should not only help gain knowledge, but should also contribute towards character building. Gandhiji often referred to that one should do his duty and remain unconcerned about the fruits.
Gandhiji also pointed out that each one of us should strive to attain Excellence at the personal as well as the social level. He implored the youth to pursue this value without any reservations. This would ensure not only holistic development of the individual, but also progress of the society at large. Here Gandhiji makes a reference to our age-old scriptures where Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha have been mentioned as the four Purusharthas, the pursuit of which leads to perfection in all walks of human life. He strongly believe in the adage that if any job is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Excellence in any field brings peace of mind and satisfaction. According to him the age-old concept life being divided into four stages or ashrams, contributed to an individual's attaining excellence.
Brahmacharyashram
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Learning
Grihaprasthashram
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Household responsibilities
Vanaprasthashram
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Living in forest away from household life
Sanyasprashthashram
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Complete freedom from material bondages and Devotion to God
Only if a person adhered strictly to these stages then his life would become worthwhile.Truth was Gandhiji's favorite human value which inspired his autobiography "My Experiments with Truth" Satya Meva Jayate was his slogan. This is as human value which leads to non-existence to human race. Youth must differentiate between truth and blind belief. Gandhiji wanted every individual and society to practice truth at any cost. He emphasised that all religions, philosophies, societies have unambiguously advocated truth. According to him truth was God and that truth must manifest itself in the thought, word and deeds. He did accept the path of truth will always be full of hardship, difficulties, sufferings, and sacrifice. To tell the truth one mist be courageous. Youth must note that no society readily accepts any social transformation. Hence the students who are acting as agent for reformation will have to face public censure and the wrath of society. Self determination, strong will power and profound belief in one's conviction will help the youth to lead the society. Trading the path of truth is a continuous and unending process which has to be followed by every generation.
Gandhiji advocated that education was the means to attain virtues. Basic education was every person's right. Children should not only learn to read and write, they must also learn some family skills, usage of which will make them independent and self-reliant. Basic education should be made compulsory for all Children up to the age of fourteen. The medium for education should be one's mother tongue, so that they can easily grasp it. Education should not end with childhood and adult education plays an equally vital role in the development of an individual.

CONCLUSION:
Thus on all fronts Gandhiji believed in creating from youth a cadre of inspiring and competent role models and change agents with the courage of conviction who in turn will trigger off the process of building a healthy nation. The war started over 100 years ago and remains incomplete as we fight it even today. Social transformation must be undertaken on apriority and this is nothing less than a revolution. Long term fundamental changes and not merely outward changes are required. Civil cleansing and mass action is the key to this change and the youth are the catalysts who will bring about the change. The entire system needs revamping and the young people will play an instrumental role. The challenge before us to build a good society out of bad individuals.
The weapons he gave were not just meant to overthrow the British but to be used at all times. Today we require these weapons more than ever to build a better society. Even after 50 years of freedom we are still struggling to gain independence in the true sense; to pull ourselves out of the clutches of violence, crime and corruption which have rendered our entire society sick. Although free from foreign rule, we are still enchained by foreign influences which are corrupting our youth and driving them astray. The very agents of social transformation are engulfed by the fatal diseases of poverty, illiteracy, over-population and unemployment. The time is ripe for an uprising & we must all awaken and revolt; a non violent but effective war needs to be waged keeping in mine all that the great Mahatma taught us years ago. As we progress into the next millennium, we need to carry forward his ideologies with us.
What better tribute can give the Father of the Nation, than pledging to build a nation of his dreams? We shall end this presentation with a small verse in praise of a man so great that his greatness is unfathomable!
His is the One Luminous, Creator of all, MahatmaAlways in the hearts of people enshrined,Revealed through Love, Intuition and ThoughtWhoever knows Him, Immortal becomes!!!Bless us O Bapu, so that we may attain Success in all that we do!

Gandhiji's Use Of Youth As An Agent Of Social Transformation

Shri Narendra SangoleAmravati University
Honourable chairman chief guest and dear friends, I am very much thankful to N. S. S. Dept. of Pune University, Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal and Gandhi Smriti Darshan for giving me an opportunity to express my views on the topic. "Gandhi's views on Youth as an Agent for Social Transformation".Mahatma Gandhi, the most impressive contribution to the history of mankind by India in the present century, was a great visionary. His contribution is always evaluated in terms of Indian National Struggle towards independence, which was successfully led by him in the first half of this century. But it will be wrong to consider national movement led by him as a mere political movement. Rather, concepts and mean of social transformation and reformation preceded in Gandhi's mind before they are applied as a mass weapon to political ends against the British. Community is the centre of ideals and concepts in Gandhism. Before going for any political demands, Gandhi always sought to bring about necessary changes in community and get his ideas and methods well accepted by the community. Gandhi tried to bring about major changes in the Indian society. Though he borrowed his concepts and ideas from traditional Indian philosophy, which included Buddhism, Jainism, Hindu and Islamic philosophy, if we go through his life work, we find that Gandhi opposed and challenged each and every statuesque in the society. He interpreted the Indian philosophy in his own way and then implemented those concepts, which some times contradicted the contemporary thinking in the society. So Gandhi was a revolutionary. He was as revolutionary as Mahatma. Influenced by the utilitarian philosophers like Mill, Benthum, Penn, Thoreau, largely convinced by the ideals of democracy and European institutions but still spirited by the diverse Indian civilization and her history, Gandhi had his unique ways of social transformation. He contributed all new methods and concepts to the wisdom of the world, most of which were never witnessed in the history of mankind. And all these methods and concepts, by the large, were addressed and envisaged to be activated through the youth of this country. Youth was the prime actor in the process of socio-political transformation from the undemocratic, irrational, fragmented, hierarchical structure to the democratic, rational, united structure based on equality which Gandhi envisaged for independent India.
Non-violence and Truth is the essence of Gandhian philosophy. Not only in present days but in the days of Gandhi also the relevance of non-violence was largely questioned and condemned by many in the society. Bringing change in the violent exploitative society through non-violent persuasive methods was never been witnessed in the history. Wrong belief has taken possession of us that non-violence is preeminently a weapon for cowardice, but this is not the case. While comparing non-violent resistance and passive resistance is for cowardice or it is a preparation for armed resistance. He conceived it as weapon of courageous and devoted people to the particular cause. And Gandhi knew youth of this country as the most courageous and enthusiastic section of the society. If we look for Gandhi's concepts and ideas we find them mostly attributed to the youth.Satyagraha is Gandhi's method of non-violent social transformation. Satyagraha is not merely a pious appeal, not merely verbal persuasion, it asks for revolutionary action by the exploited to elicit a revolutionary change in the attitude of exploiter and to bring about the total paralysis and extinction of system of exploitation. Youth has been world over a medium of revolution. Gandhi also used youth as a propagator and activator of his ideas and concepts in the process of transformation. We can find many instances of youth as an integral part of Satyagraha campaign, whether for political or social purpose. Gandhi largely motivated and made the use of youth in various movements from Champaran Satyagraha to Quit India movement.Besides political movements Gandhi called the youth to participate in various works like community development, swadeshi, health and sanitation. Gandhi was very keen about villages and rural civilizations. He accepted many drawbacks which inherited in the community and tried to remove them with the help of participation of youth. He used to say, "I asked you (young man) to go to villages and bury yourself there, not as their masters or benefactors, but as their humble servant. Let them know what to do and how to change their modes of living from your daily conduct and way of life. Only feeling will be of no use just like steam which by itself is of no account, unless it is kept under proper control-when it becomes a mighty force. I ask you wounded soul of India." This very paragraph from A call to Youth written by Gandhi has given to the youth of this country in the process of social transformation. In his lifetime Gandhi persuaded many youth to live a simple life in Ashramas and work constructively for the community around them. As evident from the above mentioned quotation Gandhi laid emphasis on daily conduct and way of living of his men. He preached for dignity of labour while working for a social cause. He asked especially to youth to engage in physical work like working in fields, cleaning the streets, the toilets and doing their own things. He addressed to youth, "No labour is too mean for one, who wants to earn an honest penny. The only thing is the readiness to use the hands and feet that God has given us...... if the sense of shame that wrongly attaches to physical labour could be got rid of, there is enough work to spare for young men and women of average intelligence." Self-sufficient, non-exploitative society was the aim of Gandhi's social reforms. He sought them through non-violent methods. Gandhi saw that ideas of trusteeship is inherent in the idea of non-violent revolution. While seeking the economic self reliance, Gandhi never lost the sight of drawbacks which were present in the rural civilization. So in order to remove the defects in society Gandhi looked at youth of this country as an inevitable agent. To put in his own words he said, "We are inheritors of rural civilization. The vastness of our country, the vastness of population, the situation and the climate of the country have, in my opinion, destined it for a rural civilization. The defects are well known, but nor one of them is irremediable. I can, therefore, suggest remedies on the assumption that we must perpetuate the present rural civilization and endeavour to rid it of its acknowledged defects. This can only be done if the youth of country will settle down to village life. And if they will do this they must reconstruct their life." This shows how Gandhi heavily relied upon youth of this country to perpetuate his concept and ideas to bring about desirable changes in society in concurrence with fast changing world's social milieu.Gandhi was a great communicator. He used to communicate with people in their own common language about their common problems. He could persuade people from backward classes, Harijans, women and young people with the same efficacy. This is illustrated from the large scale participation of younger generation in various movements like Salt Satyagraha and Quit India movement. Gandhi used to communicate through heart and to heart. Gandhi used this to persuade younger generation to participate in various activities of common cause. Because of this many young people worked for Harijans Sangha, Charkha Sangha, Goseva Sangha and other various organizations. Gandhi made them to think over various social evils like Dowry system, prostitution, widow remarriage, which were the part of contemporary society. He came down heavily on dowry system and urged the young men to discard the system. He was the first leader to propound women's participation in politics and social work, in the history of India. To conclude, the process of social transformation lies beneath the political turbulence, in the beginning of this century. This processes based on the ideals of Gandhism had been carried over by the youth of this country, Gandhi diverted courageous and enthusiastic youth of his country, by non-violent and truthful methods, to productive and constructive social transformation.


Permission to Think BigCan one man's great thoughts bring down an empire? Gandhi's thoughts did exactly that. The Indian leader studied other great thinkers such as Tolstoy and Jesus, and developed the thinking that non-violent resistance could totally change a society. His permission to think big allowed him to find clever ways to undermine the British, who occupied India. Through the simple gesture of picking up a pinch of salt at the sea he defied British law, but gave an entire nation the courage to follow his leadership.

Another simple concept, the hunger strike, eventually helped lead to the British granting India and Pakistan independence. The "passive resistance" strategies Gandhi thought up have inspired many imitators around the globe.

Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi's path to becoming a Great Thinker:
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Gandhi studied Law in London, but didn't immediately succeed as a lawyer when he returned to India. A degree is not a guarantee-a lot of networking and personal effort are still required.
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Worked for a law firm that sent him to live in South Africa, where Indians were often treated poorly and unfairly. This adversity inspired him to think about how to change society, and start putting ideas in motion.
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Gandhi continued to educate himself throughout life, constantly reading and learning. He read the works of great thinkers like Tolstoy and Emerson, helping him formulate his own great thoughts. Never stop learning!
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Gandhi used his great ideas about non-violent protest to gather support among the Indian community of South Africa, eventually causing the South African government to begin treating Indians better. Sometimes a small test of great thought is a perfect way to try it out.
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The success of Gandhi's great thoughts in South Africa gave him courage to return to British-occupied India, where he continued to encourage fellow Indians to live their own lives, and work toward independence.
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Gandhi's great thoughts changed India forever. They also gave inspiration to other occupied countries to demand their own independence. It's important to share great ideas with others!

Gandhi and education



Many of Gandhis ideas on eduction are more relevant today than when he first articulated them.


Gandhi like most great thinkers had definite ideas about education. Some of them are probably even more relevant today than when he first articulated them. Here is an attempt to examine the Mahatma's educational philosophy and its relevance. For the Mahatma, education was much more than literacy. It was the means by which a large body of knowledge of the past is passed on to the present generation in an organised manner. He believed education to be a life-long process and an instrument of social change. He wanted education to bring about economic advancement, political evolution and moral responsibility. While computer education in particular, has brought about economic advancement in the country, our education system's contribution to our political evolution and moral responsibility leaves a lot to be desired. All round educationFor Gandhi education meant training the mind and the body. He stressed on the three H's - head, heart and hand than just the three R's. Discipline was therefore a key aspect of his concept of education as also learning of manual skills. Work experience, he felt, stimulates the mind. Unfortunately, Gandhi's call for all round education has gone unheeded. Most urban schools stress too much on studies and neglect the child's all round development. Manual work is looked down upon by both children and adults. The consequence of this attitude is a society sharply divided on work-roles and plagued by obesity.


Gandhi wanted education to equip the youth to handle the tremendous changes that a society in transition throws up. He wanted education to churn out individuals with strength of character. At the same time he believed that education should be need based. Education, he believed ought to put a stop to unemployment and result in economic self-sufficiency. He wanted the Indian education system to strike a balance between individual good and community good - something that we have not been able to achieve. He wanted education to train individuals to think independently, critically and creatively and thereby bring about personal worth, dignity and self- sufficiency - something that many of our schools and colleges have succeeded in. Believing that the youth held the key to our country's progress, Gandhi wanted them to actively participate in nation building. He interacted with them at every opportunity. At the same time, he was against student politics. Gandhi would have been pained by incidents such as the recent murder of Prof Sharma. His anti-student union stand definitely seems justified in the light of increasing politicisation, hooliganism and worse, murders in campuses. Primary educationGandhi loved children and often advised fun filled activities as a means of educating them. He wanted education to be child centred and dynamic. He also stressed on education in the mother tongue, something that is now losing popularity both with educationists and parents. He wanted primary education to be free and compulsory till the age of 14. Only this, he felt, could remove poverty and ignorance that plague the country. We are making progress in the area of primary education. Programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mid day meals and Anganwadi training would have gladdened the Mahatma's heart. But there continues to be an alarming drop out rate and everyday we read about teacher less schools and under/mal utilisation of funds. Surely with concerted efforts of government, NGOs and parents themselves these problems can be solved. Need-based education that Gandhi laid emphasis on is something that we are losing track of especially with reference to village and tribal children. Also, for many first generation learners, education has brought about only marginal betterment of their lot and they are not too keen on letting their children pursue their studies beyond the primary level. Gandhi wanted rural education to become self- supporting. If Gandhi's idea of self-sustained villages is to come true, we need to clean up our act and not just educationally! Gandhi also felt that we were not giving enough importance to religious education and therefore our children were unaware of our rich cultural and religious heritage. While the term religious education may bring forth strong reactions today, what Gandhi wanted was for children to study the important tenets of all religions, so they become aware of the similarities rather than the inconsequential dissimilarities that fuel so much hatred. In the current atmosphere of heightened religious and sectarian tensions and crumbling values, Gandhi's call for religious education should be interpreted as a call for value- based education. The country as a whole is witnessing a renewed interest in education. Education of the specially-abled is also receiving the attention it deserves. Policy-makers, teachers and parents would do well to bear in mind Gandhiji's ideals while implementing existing and while formulating further educational plans.Bharathi PrabhuGandhi scholarship at London MetLondon Metropolitan University, which earlier this year launched a new scholarship named after Mahatma Gandhi for an outstanding Indian student to undertake postgraduate studies at the University, has announced the first award (for 2007-08) to a student from Bangalore, Priyanka Raghavan. Priyanka, a graduate in Communicative English and Legal Literacy from Bangalore University, will pursue an 18-month MA programme in International Marketing and Communications at London Met.The new annual scholarship, awarded by London Met in conjunction with the Gandhi Foundation at Gandhi Smriti in Delhi, provides for a full tuition fees waiver to the selected student. It will be presented each year to an outstanding Indian student on the basis of academic performance in India and demonstrated potential for leadership and social change.The scholarship will focus on international relations and international law and politics.
London Metropolitan University offers one of the strongest programmes in international relations and politics in London, including its BA in Peace and Conflict Studies, and two Masters courses in International Relations.London Met has more than 300 Indian students currently studying on its foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The University has its own offices in India, in Delhi and Chennai, which deal with all aspects of the recruitment process. The address of the Chennai Liaison Office is: 207, Apeejay Business Centre, 39/12 Haddows Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai-600006. Phone:4204 3053. E-mail: chennai@londonmet.ac.ukAchal NarayananGandhian coursesDespite the cult of violence that one sees around, Gandhigiri, a coinage made famous by Bollywood’s affable Munnabhai, is still being taken recourse to as an effective means of driving home one’s point succinctly. That even the country’s commercial cinema found in Gandhian thoughts and ideals a sure shot box-office hit is ironical of the times we live in. With Gen Next taking to Gandhian values and thoughts it would be appropriate to throw light on the Gandhian courses that offer Gandhian studies as a subject for higher education. Since Gandhian ideologies touch every phase of our lives, right from agricultural development to issues such as women empowerment, untouchability and so on, it tends to be relevant even to this day.“If one intends to take up social service then pursuing a Gandhian course would be of immense help. More than that, if you are looking for a career in a social service organisation, then pursuing Gandhian studies would be an added advantage as they are relevant even to this day”, opines in-charge director of Centre for Gandhian Studies at Bangalore University, Dr D Jeevan Kumar who is also a Professor at the Political Science Department.The curriculum which includes the Gandhian Political, Economic, Social and Religious Thoughts, Gandhian Strategy for Social transformation, Gandhian critique of Western Parliamentary Democracy, Unity of Human kind, Holistic development, 11 Ashram vows of Gandhi and its relevance to our times, Philosophy of Education etc, is not only theory oriented, but also practical. Students are asked to do a dissertations based on an empirical study of a selected village, which improves their skills, gives practical experience and trains them to solve the present crisis and challenges and gives them an idea of the strategies to adopt to solve such problems, through Gandhian thoughts. Besides, pursuing the course could be an added advantage to those who want to put in their services in the field of Women empowerment, child development, Saksharata Samithi and so on. Who can pursue the course?Anyone who has a degree to his or her credit can enroll for the course. The University started the course in 2003 and offers a six months Certificate Course and one year PG Diploma course. Further, it also offers three weeks contact courses.“Since the course is an ‘Add on Course’, students can take it up while they study other courses too,” says Professor Jeevan Kumar. The present academic year’s classes will kick start on Gandhi Jayanthi and the Centre even plans to take a full day’s class every Saturday besides classes every day between 4 to 5 pm to ensure that students from other streams also benefit.The teaching staff includes professors from various departments such as Political Science, Economics, Philosophy etc, as Gandhian values touch all streams of society, he says. “Many students are interested in pursuing the course and seats are already full. The applications we have received this year outnumber the allotted number of seats,” he says.Fee structureThe fees for the one year PG Diploma course as well as the six months Certificate Course is Rs 500.The Gandhi Bhavan of the University every year, on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi releases books on various Gandhians. It has already released books on Nobel laureate Amarthya Sen, Papu, H K Veeranna Gowda, Khadi Rangappa, Nittur Srinivas Rao, G C Bhageerathamma, Tiptur Dasappa, Srinivas Rao and has plans to release books on Saalumarada Timmakka, Medha Patkar and so on, this year, on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi. Besides that, the Centre for Gandhian Studies also celebrates the Sarvodaya Day with much grandeur.The Centre, however, is in need of full time faculty.For more details call, 080 22961146 or contact Dr D Jeevan Kumar at Centre for Gandhian Studies, Bangalore University.Bhavya Bolar

Philosophy / Metaphysics of (Mahatma) Mohandas K. Gandhi
Gandhi was influenced by the Advaita Vedanta (non-dual) philosophy of India, the understanding that all life comes from One Thing. He was a Truth-seeker and correctly understood the difference between relative (cultural) truths and absolute truth which comes from the necessary connection of the One Absolute Thing (God, Allah, Brahman, Tao) which causes the Many Things.Recent discoveries of the properties of Space and the Wave Structure of Matter (Wolff, Haselhurst) provides a scientific / logical explanation of ancient Indian philosophy - that Reality is founded on One Thing, Space existing as a Wave Medium (see links at top of page).
Gandhi was a wonderful moral person, as Einstein so beautifully wrote;
A leader of his people, unsupported by any outward authority: a politician whose success rests not upon craft nor the mastery of technical devices, but simply on the convincing power of his personality; a victorious fighter who always scorned the use of force; a man of wisdom and humility, armed with resolve and inflexible consistency, who had devoted all his strength to the uplifting of his people and the betterment of their lot; a man who had confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of the simple human being, and thus at all times risen superior. Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked on this earth. (Albert Einstein on Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi)
His devotion to truth is an important and profound lesson for all of humanity.
But for me, truth is the sovereign principle, which included numerous other principles. This truth is not only truthfulness in word, but truthfulness in thought also, and not only the relative truth of our conception, but the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is God. There are innumerable definitions of God, because His manifestations are innumerable. They overwhelm me with wonder and awe and for a moment stun me. But I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded be my very life, I hope I may be prepared to give it. But as long as I have not realised this Absolute Truth, so long must I hold by the relative truth as I have conceived it. (Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi)
Geoff Haselhurst, Karene Howie, Email

Introduction - Quotes / Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi - Gandhi Links - Top of Page
Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi Quotes
What I want to achieve - what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years - is self-realisation, to see God face to face, to attain moksa (liberation). I live and move and have my being in pursuit of that goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing, and all my ventures in the political field, are directed to this same end. (Mahatma Gandhi)
Man is not at peace with himself until he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realisation. This self-realisation is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures… to be a real devotee is to realise oneself. Self-realisation is not something apart.(Mahatma Gandhi)
I am an Advatist and yet I can support Dvaitism (dualism). The world is changing every moment, and is therefore unreal, it has no permanent existence. But though it is constantly changing, it has something about it which persists and it is therefore to that extent real .. Joy or what men call happiness may be, as it really is, a dream in a fleeting and transitory world ... But we cannot dismiss the suffering of our fellow creatures as unreal and thereby provide a moral alibi for ourselves [which the example quotes from Bharati, above, presents as the practical upshot of the dominant Indian religious tradition.] Even dreams are true while they last and to the sufferer his suffering is a grim reality. (Mahatma Gandhi)
Gandhi was committed to Advaita Vedanta (i.e. monistic or, more literally, nondual Hinduism), to the belief that all life comes from “the one universal source, call it Allah, God or Parmeshwara.” He expressed this belief by conceiving of all entities as drops in the ocean of life:
“The ocean is composed of drops of water; each drop is an entity and yet it is a part of the whole; ‘the one and the many’. In this ocean of life, we are little drops. My doctrine means that I must identify myself with life, with everything that lives, that I must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum-total of this life is God.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Introduction - Quotes / Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi - Gandhi Links - Top of Page
Links / Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi
These pages are on Eastern Philosophy. If you read them with the wave structure of matter in mind you will find them easy to understand. Reality is ultimately simple - only one thing exists, Space and its wave motions that form matter (and thus humans!).
Metaphysics: Problem of One and the Many - Brief History of Metaphysics and Solutions to the Fundamental Problems of Uniting the; One and the Many, Infinite and the Finite, Eternal and the Temporal, Absolute and Relative, Continuous and Discrete, Simple and Complex, Matter and Universe.
Philosophy: Absolute Truth - Absolute Space - Absolute Truth comes from Necessary Connection which requires One Thing, Absolute Space, to Connect the Many Things (Matter as Spherical Wave Motions of Space). On the Absolute Truth and Reality of the Existence of Absolute Space as a Wave Medium. And ending such nonsense as 'The ONLY ABSOLUTE TRUTH is that there are NO ABSOLUTE TRUTHS' (Feyerabend) as Aristotle wrote, 'Finally, if nothing can be truly asserted, even the following claim would be false, the claim that there is no true assertion.'
Philosophy: Importance of Truth & Reality to Humanity - Wisdom from Truth from Reality. (Thus Humanity must know Reality to be Wise.)
Govinda, Lama - Tantric Buddhist Lama Govinda correctly realised the importance of Space (Akasa) and Motion (Prana) as the Foundations of Eastern Philosophy and Dynamic Interconnection of Brahman.
Eastern Philosophy: Buddha: Buddhism Religion: Nirvana - 'All phenomena link together in a mutually conditioning network.' The Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) explains Nirvana (Truth) Karma (Interconnection).
Eastern Philosophy: Hinduism - Hinduism (Hindu Religion) correctly realised that Reality / Brahman is One and Dynamic. On Space (Akasa) and Motion (Prana), Illusion (Maya), Ignorance (Avidya), rebirth / cycles (Samsara). Information and links on Hinduism, Hindu Religion.
Eastern Philosophy: Kama Sutra - 'Praised be the three aims of life, virtue (dharma), prosperity (artha), and love (kama), which are the subject of this work.' Kama Sutra (Kamasutra, Karma Sutra, Kama Shastra). Discussion and Quotes / Quotations, Pictures, Positions from Famous Indian Sexual Philosophy of the Kama Sutra.
Eastern Philosophy: Kundalini - Discussion of the Philosophy and Metaphysics of Kundalini, the divine / cosmic energy that lies within every human being. When Kundalini is awakened we experience our true nature, Self as Universe.
Eastern Philosophy: Taoism - Ancient Chinese Philosophy correctly realised that One Thing (Tao) must Exist to Cause and Connect the Many Things we Experience.
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Help Humanity
"When forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter. ... Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way the concept 'empty space' loses its meaning. ... The particle can only appear as a limited region in space in which the field strength or the energy density are particularly high. ...The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres of cultural life. ... We must not conceal from ourselves that no improvement in the present depressing situation is possible without a severe struggle; for the handful of those who are really determined to do something is minute in comparison with the mass of the lukewarm and the misguided. ...Humanity is going to need a substantially new way of thinking if it is to survive!" (Albert Einstein)
Our world is in great trouble due to human behaviour founded on myths and customs that are causing the destruction of Nature and climate change. We can now deduce the most simple science theory of reality - the wave structure of matter in space. By understanding how we and everything around us are interconnected in Space we can then deduce solutions to the fundamental problems of human knowledge in physics, philosophy, metaphysics, theology, education, health, evolution and ecology, politics and society.This is the profound new way of thinking that Einstein realised, that we exist as spatially extended structures of the universe - the discrete and separate body an illusion. This simply confirms the intuitions of the ancient philosophers and mystics.Given the current censorship in physics / philosophy of science journals (based on the standard model of particle physics / big bang cosmology) the internet is the best hope for getting new knowledge known to the world. But that depends on you, the people who care about science and society, realise the importance of truth and reality.It is easy to help - just click on the social network sites (below) or grab a nice image / quote you like and add it to your favourite blog, wiki or forum. We are listed as the Top Philosophy Website on the Internet (500,000 page views / week) and have a wonderful collection of knowledge from the greatest minds in human history, so people will appreciate your contributions. Thanks! Geoff Haselhurst - Karene Howie - Email
Edited By Sadaket Malik Oct. 25 2008

Review * September - October - 2006
India's recorded and unrecorded culture and civilization are rare features in the course of world history. Today, along with
modernization, it is very much a part of our living culture, at every level of the society, as well as a documented testimony
to the greatest strength of education, which catapulted the Indian Civilisation to its zenith. Perhaps few other cultures
and civilizations have produced such courageous, saintly and visionary role models such as Radhakrishnan, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Mira Bai, Rani of Jhansi, Netaji Subas Chandra Bose, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Sant Kabir, Sant Ram Das, Mahatma Gandhi, to name a few. Gandhiji influenced the lives of our countrymen for more than half a century. His approach to most issues was down-to-earth and holistic-be it social, cultural, economic, health or education. His philosophies were pragmatic and farsighted. The villager was the centre of his economic thought. His warnings against the British Education system were prophetic. Today, when Indian illiteracy rate stands at 34.62%, crime,
violence and corruption are at its zenith, and more
than one third of our population lives below the
poverty line, it is indeed tempting to muse over
the relevance of Gandhiji's contribution to
education as well as his model of basic education,
incorporating his philosophy, approach and
strategy.
His Contributions :
Gandhiji's model was
not only holistic and practical,
it was highly decentralized
and integrated, with a
demonstrated capacity to
motivate the entire
community and place
responsibility and
accountability at the
community level versus the
State. To highlight just a few
of his contributions.
An Investment in Human Capital :
On economic, political and military
grounds, India was of first rate importance to the
British and education was the instrument by which
they sought to maintain and strengthen their
domination by experimenting with a unique model
of educating an elite through a foreign language.
However, contrary to the popular belief, English
Mahatma Gandhi's Contribution to Education
Dinabandhu Dehury
Orissa Review * September - October - 200
education was not forced on the Indians (Basu,
1978). Rich Indian citizens had actively come
forward in setting up the system as the only way
to modernize their society. So much time was
spent in mastering English language by the Indian
School boys that the main purpose of education
was missed. The premium on rate learning and
examinations was so high, that the growth of
inquisitiveness and an experimental bent of mind,
so necessary for economic development, were
not cultivated. But more important was an invisible
and quite change in attitudes and values of viewing
education as a social welfare activity for girls and
an investment for boys (Dhawan, 1995; Naik,
1982; Krishna Raj, 1982). As an outcome, the
system concentrated on a centralized and uniform
higher education.
Since the system of education had little use
for the masses, there were inadequate facilities
for children aged between 6-11 years as well as
poor enrolment. In many ways the situation hurt
the girls more than the boys. Gandhiji, who viewed
education as an investment in human capital,
warned against this system because it disorganized
villagers, made them helpless and paralyzed and
steadily sunk them into poverty, unemployment
and despair (Gandhiji, 1937). Instead, productive
skills were the focus of his Nai Talim (Basic
Education), providing food, shelter and clothing
as the three basic essentials for human survival
and security.
Given the impact of radical changes in
Societies the world over, brought about by the
Industrial Revolution, Gandhiji's Philosophy of
education was based on his findings derived from
scientific research of theories of economic,
political and child development (both Western and
Oriental), and his successful experiments in South
Africa. One of those radical changes was the
removal of manufacture from households into
factories and shops. The work done at home
offered lifelong educational, socialization,
communication and vocational benefits to the
family members. It kept unemployment and crime
rates low. The spirit of cooperation and respect
prevailed, which is what Gandhiji tried to revive
in his model.
Concrete Definition to Aims, Goals and
Objectives of Education :
If education is the foundation of all growth
and progress, then aims, goals and objectives are
the four interconnected and most significant
components that gives direction to educational
outcomes through the curricular content, syllabus
and evaluations. These four components are highly
influenced by four interconnected foundation
blocks namely, epistemology (the nature of
knowledge), society/culture, the individual, and
learning theories (Zais, 1976). But since aims,
goals, and objectives, collectively as a component
of curriculum provide direction and focus for the
entire education programme, they are particularly
sensitive to these four fundamental forces.
It was Gandhiji, who in 1937 first
recognized the interconnectedness of the eight
curricular forces and questioned the futility of the
British education system. Based on his wisdom
and successful experiments with education in
South Africa, he put forth a Basic Education Plan
which had the merit of achieving one aim of peace
and freedom, for which all mankind yearns today.
Also, recognizing the futility of a centralized plan
and control in implementing programmes, he also
outlined a comprehensive but decentralized model
to be implemented by the village Republics. The
vital objective of his model was to develop
productive and social skills among the masses.
To the centre, remained the overall responsibilities
of coordinating and guiding the work of the states
so that national policies could evolve from the
grassroots.
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Orissa Review * September - October - 2006
After two years of work on Basic
Education, a Conference was organized in
Jamianagar, Delhi, in the year 1941. Various
reports on the working of basic schools run by
the governments, local bodies, and by private
enterprise throughout the country were almost
unanimous in their assesment that general
standards of health and behaviour as well as
intellectual attainment were very encouraging.
Compared to the English Medium Schools, the
Children in Basic Schools were more active,
cheerful, self-reliant, with well-developed power
of self-expression. They were found to be
acquiring habits of co-operative work and social
prejudices were breaking down.
Five other equally significant contributions
to education include (1) an age appropriate and
realistic curriculum focusing on social, productive
and academic skills, (2) a highly adequate and
effective teacher training programme, (3) keeping
the financing of education at bay so that the local
community could raise and manage the finance
judiciously, simultaneously providing for
international standards in education; (4) leaving
little or no scope for adult illiteracy, unemployment
or child labour; and (5) provide for international
standards in health and manageable levels of
population, again by placing the responsibility and
accountability at the hands of the local community.
All this and much more he achieved through his
model.
The Eclectic Model :
The second focus of the paper is Gandhiji's
proposed and tested alternative for human
security which is tangible, attainable, inexpensive,
indigenous and sustainable and an insulation
against poverty, inequality and its allied problems.
Since a compartmentalized approach does not
address the cause, Gandhiji's alternative was most
comprehensive and integrated to address the
cause. His eclectic model was proposed to serve
as a guideline for formulating a new policy. Its
implementation, management and finances were
to be entirely vested with the panchayats and local
bodies.
The six main features of his eclectic model
incorporating his philosophy, approach and
strategy are : 1. Basic Philosophy, 2. Aims and
Goals, 3. The Five Stages, 4. Programme of
Work, 5. Implementation Strategy, 6. Standard
of Attainment.
The Basic Philosophy
(a) True education is all-round development
of the faculties, best attained through action. It
bases itself on the fact that knowledge and
understanding develop in relation to problems set
right by action. Information thrust on the mind only
burdens the memory and causes intellectual
indigestion, casting learning into oblivion.
(b) Education must be concrete and inter
connected, not abstract or given in isolated
sections. Concrete education allows the learner
to manipulate problems or sets of problems and
study their relationships, character and artistic
sense. It allows the mind, heart, hand and eyes to
work simultaneously in a correlated manner,
resulting in a harmonious and well-balanced
personality.
(c) Education must be imparted in the child's
mother tongue and organically connected with the
child's Social and Cultural environment.
Aims and Goals :
(a) All boys and girls in India should grow up
to seek truth and peace.
(b) All children should grow up as citizens in a
new social order, based on Co-operative work
and with the understanding of their rights,
responsibilities and obligations in such a society.
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14
(c) Every individual child should have full
opportunity for the balanced and harmonious
development of all his/her faculties and should
acquire the capacity for self-reliance in every
aspect of a clean, healthy and cultured life, together
with an understanding of the social, political and
moral implications of such a life.
(d) Each individual must develop "a scientific
attitude of mind". It means a clean intellectual
curiosity to know the "how" and "why" of things;
the patience detachment to test all phenomena,
all ideas and all traditions by the standards of truth;
the courage and power to think for oneself; the
intellectual and moral authority to abide by all the
facts.
The Five Stages :
(a) Adult Education - involvement of
educated parents (with productive skills) and the
community for a happy, healthy, clean and selfreliant
life. An educated adult's participation is
closely connected to the success of pre-school,
primary and secondary education.
(b) Pre-School Education - for children
under-7, both boys and girls, to develop their
faculties conducted by School teachers in
cooperation with the parents and the community.
It includes physical nurture, medical care, personal
cleanliness and health, community cleanliness and
health, self-help, social training, creative activities
in work and play for the acquisition of basic
concepts, speech training, development of
mathematical sense, nature study, art and music
and spiritual development.
(c) Primary Education - education for selfsufficiency,
of eight years duration for children in
the age group of 7-15, with the same subjects
and curricular contents for both boys and girls,
irrespective of their caste or class.
(d) Secondary Education - education through
self-sufficiency or vocational education of four
years duration, with the same curricular contents
for adolescent boys and girls in the age group of
15-18, irrespective of their caste or class. It must
provide for a great range of productive activities
to support the community and provide the basis
for sound and well-organized knowledge.
(e) Tertiary Education - It should either lead
to the responsibilities of adult family life or some
form of professional training in the university.
Programme of Work
There are five fundamental activities around
which the programme of work for adult
education, pre-school education, primary
education and secondary education are
recommended.
(a) Clean and Healthy Living to focus on
personal and social habits and attitudes of health,
cleanliness and hygiene towards self and
community; practical skills to carry out all types
of proper cleaning and sanitation work efficiently.
(b) Self-Reliance to focus on economic selfsupport
for its own sake and for character
training.
(c) Productive Basic Crafts to focus on three
most suited crafts for children by age for
developing intelligence and general knowledge.
The three basic crafts are the main centre of
correlation for the "core subjects" of language,
mathematics, general science and social science.
(d) Citizenship in Community to focus on
developing habits and attitudes of cooperation
and neighbourliness at home, at school and in the
community.
(e) Recreational and Cultural Activities to
focus on games, dance, music, drama, festivals
relating to social, religious, historical and national
significance.
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Orissa Review * September - October - 2006
Implementation Strategy
(a) The Panchayat Samitis and local bodies
alongwith the teachers must decide the objectives,
curriculum and syllabus. However, it must be
according to age and developmental norms, as
well as gender sensitive.
(b) The curriculum materials and activities must
be indigenous, inexpensive using common objects
of ordinary Indian life and people.
(c) The text books must be written by
renowned teachers themselves from the child's
view point both from the level of concepts and
language.
(d) Practical and theoretical training should be
given to the teachers, on the needs of the villages,
in the villages itself. Use the same teachers for
adult education as it saves on planning and capital
outlay.
(e) The latest instructional technologies must
be utilized for imparting training.
Standard of Attainment
Literacy is neither the beginning nor the end
of life. The purpose of evaluation is to measure
the extent to which objectives have been achieved.
Since the current examination system is
insignificant, seven standards of achievement were
proposed such as capacity to appreciate true art,
responsible citizenship, self-reliance, clean and
healthy living, self-sufficiency, sufficient mastery
over tool subject and acquaintance with
fundamental scientific, mathematical and
mechanical principles.
References :
1. Basic Education (1941)- two years of work.
Report of the Second Basic Education
Conference. Jamianagar, Delhi, April, Hindustan
Talim Sangh, Sevagram, Wardha.
2. Basic National Education (1938) - Complete
Syllabus for Grades I to VIII. Hindustan Talim
Sangh, Sevagram, Wardha, 2nd Edition.
3. Dhawan, G. (1997) - prospects and challenges of
financing more and better education,
Employment News, August Vol.XXII, No.21.
4. Dhawan, G and Bhat C.M. (1995), Education :
The Harbinger of change for Women, Girl Child
and the family : Action for Equality,
Development and Peace. Centre for Social,
Economic and Educational Evaluation, Research
and Development, Delhi.
5. Gandhi, M.K. (1937) - Basic Education, Navajivan
Publishing House, Ahmedabad.
Dinabandhu Dehury is a Ph.D. Scholar in the P.G.
Department of History, Utkal University, Vani Vihar,
Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik with the
members of Mumbai Oriya Association.