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Mahatma Gandhi Global Village a model of Basic Education: To Teach Self Reliance & Respect for Manual Labour

- Dr. Umakant Chanshetti and Ms. Sangita Shah*

Abstract

In the present scenario of education it is anomaly that education has not been able to give right direction to our youths and it does not provide them opportunities for their all round development or make them self reliant. In our country 80% of population is belongs to agriculture and 10% occupied in serving the needs of them. Now a days the students may pass and earn degree or degrees with first or higher division or may acquire the highest degree, but even though they does not become self reliant and unable to face the challenges. So to overcome this situation there is need of such education which was predicted by Mahatma Gandhi viz ‘Basic Education’ or ‘Nai-Talim’. In Boramani village of Sholapur district “Mahatma Gandhi Global Village” endeavors to provide education with the views of Mahatma Gandhi, which shows effective and positive results among the children.

Introduction

The thoughts and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi are guidelines not only for India but also for overall the world, that's why to disseminate the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi UNO decides to celebrate his birthday 2nd October as the International Non violent Day. Because of the development in the field of Information Technology there is optimum use of computer and internet. On one side this IT has brought the world at the next door. Now the world has become a tiny village and on other side so many issues and problems are faced by the population. These issues and problems are not only related to India but it co-relates all over the world. These challenges can be overruled by assimilating or adopting the Gandhian philosophy and thoughts through education.

Basic Education

Mahatma Gandhi in his article entitled ‘Basic Education’ has written that, this education is meant to transform the village children into model villagers. It is principally designed for them. He also wrote that, the inspiration for it has came from villages. Basic education links the children, whether of cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in India. It develops both the body and the mind, and keeps the child rooted to the soil with a glorious vision of the future.1 In Harijan  published on 6 April 1940 he clarify the concept and broadly focused on the objectives of Basic Education. He wrote that, the object of such education is the physical, intellectual and moral development of the children through the medium of handicraft2 viz “learning by Doing”.

Fundamentals of Basic Education

  1. All education to be true must be self supporting, that is to say, it will pay its expenses expecting the capital which will remains intact.
  2. In this, the skill of fingers will be utilized up to the final stage, that is to say, hands of pupils will skillfully working  on the object for some period during the day.
  3. The education must be imparted through the medium of the regional language.
  4. In this there is no room for giving sectional religious training. Fundamental universal ethics will have full scope.
  5. This education, whether it is confined to children or adults or male or female will find its way to the homes of pupils.3

The introduction of such manual training through basic education will serve a double purpose in India. It will pay for the educations of our children and teach them an occupation on which they can earn their bread. Such education system must make our children self reliant and inculcate the value of respect for manual labour.

Present Scenario of Education:

Mahatma Gandhi in his article titled ‘The New Education’ published in ‘Young India’ of  1 September 1921 has written that, whatever may be true of other countries, but in India  where more than eighty percent of the population is occupied with agriculture and another ten percent occupied with industries, it is crime to make an offence that to make education  merely literary and unfit the boys and girls for manual in after life.4  When we focus on these lines we came to know that, according to Mahatma Gandhi, education is not only to push or gain the literary knowledge. In my view education cannot be confined to the knowledge of letters of alphabets. In addition to this literary knowledge, education should include moral, physical and mental development of a person.

In the present scenario of education it is anomaly that, education has not been able to give right direction to our youth and does not provide them an opportunities for their all round development or to make them self reliant.

Now days the youths may pass the graduate examination with first division or may acquire the M.Phil. or Ph.D. degree, but still they does not become reliant and are  not able to shape their future. In such a case, the education or degrees earned by them are meaningless or useless. Due to an increasing population and competition there is no prospect for the young graduates who acquire only degree or degrees. Many of them have no hope for a bright future. The present education without life skill produced only literate unemployed youth force without confidence, which could not face the challenges. It appears that education today has failed in giving any direction.

It is a fact that present system of education has been defective for the last many decades. After independence many committees & commissions have been formed, but how much improvement has been made in the reformation of education is the question.

The youths who belong to agriculture back ground received degree or not, they want to work or serve in the cities on fewer salaries, which could not meet their day today needs. Due to these youths from rural villages drained towards cities. This situation affects on the economy of villages or rural area.

If we do not awaken at the right time and take efforts to bring changes in our defective educational system according to the views of Mahatma Gandhi, the situation would become so serious that we would not be able to manage it.

Mahatma Gandhi Global Village: Model of Basic Education

To inculcate the Gandhian philosophy and thoughts among the society Late B.I. Chanshetti Guruji Pratisthan established the Mahatma Gandhi Global Villages on site 503 B/2 near Primary Health Centre at Boramani, Dist. Solapur.

This Mahatma Gandhi Global Village is model of sustainable rural development through Gandhian views of education i.e. Basic Education.

In “National Council of Education” which was held at Wardha in October 1937 Mahatma Gandhi was firmly in favor of the revolution of education and the principle of free and compulsory education in India. He further stated that the brain must be educated through the hand, if I were a poet I would write poetry on the possibilities of five fingers. Those who do not train their hands, who go through ordinary route of education they lack music in their life.

With these views of Mahatma Gandhi to transform the livelihood of today’s scenario, this “Global village” endeavor to give the education with the concept of basic education i.e. learning by doing.

At present 182 from 5-10 year age group students of the nearby villages belongs to farmer and laborer families are admitted for basic education. The teachers (mentors) of Global Village cater the formal education along with agro based vocational education. In this Global Village students learn Science and Mathematics through soil by sowing the seeds, cultivating the vegetable.

In this Global Village students learn Science and Mathematics through soil by sowing the seeds, cultivating the vegetable, Social Science through corporate life, Geometry through carpentry, masonry etc. Marketing skills and Economics through activities like Gandhi Bazar, Diwali Bazar.

Conclusion

Through such activity based education students learn with joy and in addition to literary knowledge they acquired moral, physical, mental development. Which helps them to become self reliant and think to realize the dignity of labrour? They not only able to earn their bread but also able to fulfill the obligations of their family and in carving the path of their progress, ultimately they become able to achieve their goal in life.

References:

  1. Constructive programme, M.K. Gandhi  PP-15-16.
  2. India of My dreams, Harijan 6-4-40
  3. Harijan, 2-11-47
  4. Young India, 1-9-21
  5. Mahatma Gandhi & Higher Education : A Critical Analysis by Dr. Ravindra Kumar.

* Dr. Umakant Chanshetti is a Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Arts, Science & Commerce College,  Naldurg, Dist: Osmanabad. 413 602 (MS) India. and Chairman, Mahatma Gandhi Global Village, Boramani, Dist: Sholapur.  413 002. (MS), India. Email: cumakant@gmail.com

Ms. Sangita Shah, Dharitry Vidyalaya, Aliabad, Naldurg, Dist: Osmanabad. 413 602 (MS) India. and Secretary, Mahatma Gandhi Global Village, Boramani, Dist: Sholapur.  413 002. (MS)