SEMINAR

                                SEMINAR

           EDU 01:EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY 

         Topic:-Indian thinker:MAHATMA GANDHI

                              (Malayalam)                         

                      

                   INTRODUCTION              

                        

                 Gandhiji’s  contribution  to  education  is  unique.  He  was  the  first Indian  who  advocated  a  scheme  of  education  based  upon  the  essential values  of  Indian  culture  and  civilization. As  he  criticized  the  colonial system  of  education  as  harmful  to  India.  According  to  Gandhiji,  colonial system of  education  was:

Based  on  foreign  culture,  which  has  almost  destroyed  the  local culture; 

This  system  of  education  has  limited  itself  to  educating mind,  it has  completely  ignored  the  education  of  heart  and  hand, and

Right  education  is  not  possible  through  foreign  language

The  methods  and  techniques  advocated  by  him  and  the  environment he  prescribed  revolutionized  Indian  thinking  and  way  of  living .  At  heart  he was  devoted  to  idealism.  He  wanted  to  translate  his  ideals  and  values  into practice.  His  philosophy  of  education  is  a  harmonious  blending  of idealism,  naturalism,  and  pragmatism.  It  may  be  noted  that  there  is  no inherent  conflict  between  the three  philosophies.  Idealism  is  the  base  of Gandhiji’s  philosophy  whereas  naturalism  and  pragmatism  are  the  helpers in  translating  that  philosophy  into  practice.  Gandhiji  advocated  the  ideals truth,  non violence  and  moral  values  to  achieve  the  ultimate  truth  of  self realization.  He  is  a  devotee  of  naturalism  when  he  speaks  about  the development  of  the  child  according  to  his  nature  and  he  becomes  a pragmatist  when  he  advocates  learning  and  doing  by  experience.  All  this leads  to  integration,  so  essential  to effective  education  and  development  of the  total  personality.

            MEANING  OF  EDUCATION 

               

               According  to  Gandhiji  “literacy  is  neither  the  beginning  nor  the  end of  education.  This  is  only  a  means  through  which  man  or  woman  can  be educated”.  Gandhiji  observes “by  education  I  mean  an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man-body, mind, and spirit. This is only a means through which man and women can be educated.” This is how Gandhiji summed up his idea of true education. 

EDUCATION IS DEVELOPMENT :- All round” implies harmonious development. ‘Drawing out the best’ recognizes a great potentiality coiled up in the child which can be realized and developed to its perfection through education.

                             It is development of human personality in terms of physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects. Education should take care of the whole child, the human personality. It should be the function of education to bring about a harmonious development of all the aspects of human personality. So that it can grow to its highest stature and serve the society at its best.

EDUCATION IS NOT LITERACY :- According to Gandhiji literacy itself is no education. Literacy is just a means of education. He emphasized the development of head, heart and hand (3 H). According to Gandhiji “true education is that which draws out and stimulates the spiritual, intellectual and physical faculties of the children”.

         GANDHI’S VIEWS ON EDUCATION

       

     Objectives of education:- The ultimate objective of the new education is not only a balanced and harmonious individual but also a balanced and harmonious society – a just social order in which there is no unnatural dividing line between the haves and have-nots and everybody is assured of a living wage and the right to freedom.  2.         Education through craft: The uni

Education through craft:- The uniqueness of this scheme is that education is to be given through village crafts. 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 center piece of the entire teaching programme. 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

Curriculum :- Curriculum in Gandhi’s scheme is activity centered and craft centered. As M.S Patel has put it in style; “Craft occupies the position of the sun in the vast solar system of human life” satisfying our material needs in perfect harmony with the higher values of life. The subject in the curriculum includes in the following:

             1.Basic craft – Agriculture, Spinning, Weaving etc.

             2.Mother tongue 

             3. Mathematics – useful for craft and community life

             4. Social studies – social and economic life of the community, culture the   community, history of craft etc.

           5. General science – nature study, zoology, physiology, hygiene, physical    culture, anatomy etc.     

           6.   Drawing and music.

Gandhiji advocated uniform education for boys and girls up to the fifth grade and diversified education there after - general science to be replaced by domestic science for girls along with craft for both. He laid special stress on development of good handwriting. The technique of correlation is another characteristic of the scheme. This will encourage self - activity rather than role memory. In his scheme of education Gandhiji proposed a life centered and activity centered curriculum where knowledge and skills are imparted through self supporting productive craft.

Methods of teaching:   Gandhiji’s aims of education were different from those prevalent during his days. Current education was subject centred. Gandhiji disapproved that educational method considering as defective and emphasized to make crafts and vocations as means of education. He wished that some local craft should be made as medium of education for children so that they develop their body, mind and soul in a harmonious way and also meets the ends and needs to their future life. In this way, Gandhiji’s method of teaching was therefore, different from the current one. He emphasized the importance of the following principles in his method of teaching –

To achieve mental development, training of senses and parts of the body should be given.

Reading should precede the teaching of writing.

Before teaching of alphabets, art training should be given.

More opportunities should be given for learning by doing.

Encouragement should be given to learning by experience.

Correlation should be established in the teaching methods and learning experiences.

Mother tongue to be the medium of instruction

Productive craft as the basic of all education.

Teaching through creative    and productive activities.

Learning by living, service and participation, self – experience

Lecture, questioning and discussion method.

Oral instruction to personal study

In addition to the above, Gandhiji emphasized the need of co-curricular activities, planning, realistic experiences, initiative and sense of individual responsibility to be associated with the craft centred teaching method.

Role of teacher:   He wanted the teacher to be a model of behavior an image of society a compendium of virtues. He wanted teachers to teach by example than by precept. He opposed corporal punishment. How can an apostle of non – violence advocated anything like that? Teacher must be well trained, proficient, man of knowledge, faith action and devotion. Teachers are responsible for carving the statues of their students. A teacher should be the epicene of character, a symbol of values, well disciplined, a unique personality, cultured and having a good mentality. His serenity and magnanimity should be outstanding and shining. He should be polite, pious, and having sea of knowledge. He should be a psychologist, a philosopher, a historian, a technologist in the matters of knowledge and seduction. He should be a guide, mentor, and guru for imparting knowledge to the students – the valuable pearls.

Concept of discipline: His concept of discipline is based on self - control. Self-control refers to inner discipline which leads to self - discipline. His concept of discipline was, however in tune with social discipline. He emphasized the value of self - discipline in life. He assists that every individual is a productive citizen, a worker and a parent. Education is to be recognized as a potent means for generating then us - feeling among the individuals to make them, useful and responsible citizen of their country.

                   BASIC EDUCATION

                 To materialize the vision of society Gandhi evolved a scheme of education after many trials and experiments over a period of 40 years. His ideas revolutionized the current thinking about education. This scheme of education is known as Basic education or Wardha scheme of education or Nai Talim or new education or Buniyandi Shiksha. Gandhiji used the term basic to describe his scheme of education because it is intimately related with the basic needs and interest of Indian children. Moreover, it is closely related to the people living the villages. It is an educational scheme for common man who constitutes the base or backbone of our country. The goal of a Basic Education is to enable a student to acquire the desired fruit through his or her own actions.

Features of Basic Education: Basic Education was an embodiment of Gandhi’s perception of an ideal society as one consisting of small, self-reliant communities. The basic scheme of education has the following important features:

The core aim of Basic Education is to help students to develop self-sufficiency.

Basic Education laid a strong emphasis on manual work.

There should be free, compulsory and universal education within the age group 7 to 14.

It envisages providing education through the medium of craft or productive work so that the child gains economic self-reliance for his life.

The medium of education should be mother tongue.

Education should develop human values in the child.

It is aimed to achieve the harmonious development of the child’s body, mind heart and soul.

In basic scheme education is imparted through some local craft or productive work.

The basic education is self-supported through some productive work.

It is geared to create useful, responsible and dynamic citizens.

Play is an essential part of basic education.

Subjects are taught in correlation with craft, with environment and with other subjects.

          EFFECTS OF BASIC EDUCATION

MERITS

 The following are the merits of basic education;

Basic scheme is an education for life, education through life, and education throughout life. Shortly, it was a life centered education. 

This system is suited to our needs, requirements, genius, and aspirations for the future. 

The craft centered education will give greater concreteness and reality to the knowledge acquired by children.

  It synthesized the individual and social aims of education. 

  It was a need based education which curtailed rural unemployment.

  Gandhiji’s scheme was highly practical as it starts with action rather than reflection. 

Basic scheme takes in to account the needs, interests and aptitude of the child. Thus it is essentially child centered. 

 The basic scheme was nationalist in setting, idealist in nature and pragmatic on one hand while social in purpose and spiritual in intent on the other hand.

  The Wardha scheme is non theoretical and as such it enables the student to undertake independent action. 

  Basic education provides for the inculcation of an attitude of truth in children.

DEMERITS

The over emphasis on crafts and productive activity has often been criticized as child  labour . 

It neglects education in terms of personality development and development higher mental abilities,

The craft centeredness has resulted in enormous wastage of material as small children are not in a position to produce anything worth – while. 

Schools would degrade as trade centers. 

 It may arrest the child’s spontaneous development. 

 The call for correlation becomes forced and unnatural. 

 The basic scheme overlooked the possibilities of higher intellectual development of children. 

 To serve as a medium for education the basic craft selected must answer the test of universality. 

Making handicraft as nucleus of teaching will amount to throwing the country further behind in this age of science and technology. 

It is not up to the aspirations of the new generation of a digitalized world.

        CONTRIBUTIONS OF GANDHIJI

          Gandhiji’s contribution to education is unique. He was the first Indian who advocated a scheme of education based upon the essential values of Indian culture and civilization. His important contributions to education are the following:

Gandhiji put forth a very comprehensive and practical system of education suited to genius of our country. It is a constructive and human system integrated with needs and ideals of national life. 

  Gandhiji was the first educationist to advocate the large scale use of handicraft, not only as a productive work but as a pivot round which the teaching of different subjects should be undertaken. 

 He presented a practical scheme of education based on the principles of equity, social justice, non – violence, human dignity, economic well being and cultural self respect. 

 Gandhiji gave a very broad - based concept of education describing it as all round development of human personality. 

 He recommended immediate and ultimate aims of education which are in accordance with the Indian socio political, economic, cultural and social aim of education. 

 He suggested a very practical and broad based curriculum. It is needed an integrated curriculum which is psychologically sound.  

The method of teaching suggested by Gandhiji is highly pragmatic and pedagogically sound. 

Gandhiji’s educational 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.

 Gandhiji’s  educational  scheme  revived  India’s  economic,  social  and cultural  life  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  handicraft

The  basic  scheme  of  education  was  a  practical  solution  for  rural unemployment. Gandhiji  succeeded  in  presenting  a  type  of  education which  can  provide  the  necessary  economic  self  sufficiency  and  self reliance.

GANDHI’S  PUBLICATIONS  ON  EDUCATION

Basic  education. 

Medium  of  instruction.

 Tasks  before  Indian  students.

 To  the  students. 

Towards  new  education. 

True  education  Gandhi  wrote  extensively  on  education  in  ‘Harijan’.

                   CONCLUSION

                 Gandhiji’s  contribution  to  education  is  unique.  He  was  the  first  Indian who  advocated  a  scheme  of  education  based  upon  the  essential  values  of the  Indian  culture  and  civilization.  The  methods  and  techniques  advocated by  him  and  the  environment  he  prescribed  revolutionized  Indian  thinking and  way  of  living.  At  heart  he  was  devoted  to  idealism.  He  wanted  to translate  his  ideals  and  values  into  practice.  His  philosophy  of  education is  a  harmonious  blending  of  idealism,  naturalism,  and  pragmatism. According  to  Gandhiji,  “Education  is  an  all  round  drawing  out  of  the  best in  child  and  man bo dy,  mind  and  spirit”.  He  advocated  that  literacy should  never  be  the  end  of  education  or  even  the  beginning.  True education  according  to  him  is  that  which  draws  out  and  stimulates  the intellectual  and  physical  facilities  of  children.  He  gave  greater  import ance to  the  child,  than  the  techniques  and  method  of  education.  It  was  him  firm belief  that  a  sound  education  should  produce  useful  citizens  of  the  entire humanity.  Education  in  its  true  and  broad  sense  is  a  lifelong  process, which  begins  with  beginning  of life  and  ends  with  the  end  of  life  going  on unceasingly.