MAHATMA GANDHI

MAHATMA GANDHI

Life-Sketch

Mohandas  Karamchand  Gandhi was a great leader, a practical philosopher and a socio-political reformer of the  modern India .the father of the nation ,as he is called , was the apostle of peace and non-violence and champion of freedom movement . He devoted his life for this mission and incessantly worked for the upliftment of the million of down – trodden , poverty – stricken, half- naked and semi starved masses of India.

Sathyagraha  has been the most important tool used by Gandhiji while working as the architect of  India’s freedom. After his matriculation , he studied for law in England. After graduating in law , he joined the Bar in 1891. He had to go to South Africa as a Lawyer but had to stay there till 1914 devoting himself  to public work. From 1919 to 1947 he actively led the freedom movement of India and was  assassinated in 1948 , while participating in one of his prayer meetings.

Main publication

                      Gandhiji is known more by  his life than by his books , My experiment with truth , commentary on the Bhagavat  Gita , etc, are his famous works. He was the editor of a number of  journals such as Harijan  and young India and has published  innumerable booklets containing his views on various aspects ,including education.

Philosophy of  life

i.                   His belief in god

“To Gandhiji , god is all –pervasive reality , immanent in man also in the world which he considers as his manifestation and creation ‘ “ God is that indefinable something  which we all feet but which we do not know” . He says , To me god is truth and love ,. God is ethics and morality .  God is fearlessness. God is the source of light and life.

Like an idealist , Gandhiji believed :

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“ God is that indefinable something which we all feel, but which we do not know . To me god is truth and love. God is ethics and morality. God is  fearlessness. God is the source of light and life.”

According to Gandhiji, God is Truth and Truth is God.

ii.                The three focal points: truth, ahimsa & love

1)   Truth : According to Gandhiji, the realization of truth is the ultimate goal of human life. He used to say : “I  have no god to serve but Truth’. In his views, the denial of Truth means the denial of  God and hence, the denial of all that is good in voice of the conscience. Gandhiji advocated Truth in all our personal and social dealings.

2)   Ahimsa : Gandhiji regarded Ahimsa as the only means to the realization of truth and god. He explained.” Ahimsa and Truth are so intertwined that it is practically impossible to disintegrate and separate them. Ahimsa is positive attitude and gives strength of spirit .

3)   Love :-Gandhiji advocated that the only true religion of man was the religion of  love. He believed ; “ To see the universal and prevailing spirit of  true face to face , one must be able to love the nearest of creation as oneself “ . Thus , his love attained the form of universal love.

iii.             Brotherhood of man

Gandhiji was not an egoist seeker after truth. His motto was : “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. his dream was the establishment of a universal community of free persons without artificial barriers   of caste , color , creed , wealth and power . He had a firm faith in the concept of brotherhood of man and fatherhood of god.

iv.              Service  unto Humanity

His greatest creed  was service of god through service of  humanity. To him , God is the “temple of humanity” . He devoted his entire  life in the  service of humanity. He stated; ‘ I shall work for an India in which the poorest  shall feel that it is their country , in whose making they have an effective voice …. An India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony ,’ in such a society even the women shall enjoy the same rights as men.

Gandhiji’s Educational Philosophy

To Gandhiji , education is a potent force for social reconstruction . it is an activity which is necessary not only for social progress but also for moral , political and economic development . it may be pointed out here that basic education does not include the  total philosophy of the type of education as envisaged by Gandhi , as this scheme is concerned only with the education of children during the years 6 to 14 . However , we must say that he evolved a philosophy of education as a dynamic side his philosophy of life. And the system bears the stamp of his practical life a virtuous , pious and ideal life.

Gandhiji was at the same time an idealist , a naturalist , a pragmatist and a humanist .his philosophy of education is naturalistic in its  setting , idealistic in its goals , pragmatic in its method and humanistic in its outlook. He said , by education I mean an all-round drowning out of the best in the child and man-body , mind and spirit.

The aim of education included harmonious development of the personality of the individual , his social , cultural and spiritual development ,preparation for complete living , character formation , social training for effective citizenship , economic self sufficiency  , etc. The method suggested or education is chiefly craft centered . education for him is a kind of insurance against unemployment .The curriculum broadly covers craft-education, general education, training of the fine arts  and physical education.

Basic Education

Basic education or wardha scheme of education is a national system of education put forward by Mahathma Gandhi in 1937 as a revolt against the sterile , book –centred , examination oriented system of education propagated by the British. This system is called by the name ‘wardha scheme’ because the salient features of this scheme of  education was first presented by Gandhiji in the All India National Education Conference held at Wardha (near Nagpur , Maharashtra) on the 22^nd and 23^rd of October , 1937. 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 basic occupation of  the people living in 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

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

2.    Basic education laid a strong emphasis on manual work

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

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

5.    The medium of education should be Mother tongue.

6.    Education should develop human values in the child.

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

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

9.    The basic education is self – supported through some productive work.

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

11.Play is an essential part of basic education  .

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

Preepthi – V

Natural Science