Mahatma Gandhi and His Idea of Basic Education: An Historical Appraisal

Abstract

In spite of his other preoccupations-political, social, economic, and religious; Mahatma Gandhi’s interest in education had always been profound and abiding. Gandhiji’s philosophy of education was not the upshot of any study of modern or ancient educational movements in India or elsewhere. This educational theory is ‘original’, ‘new’ and ‘epoch making. It evolved out of his wide and long experiences of the political, social and economic life of his country. Therefore it was apposite for his motherland. Gandhi realized that at an early age education was therapy for all the ills and evils with which contemporary India had been afflicted. This paper aims to understand and review Gandhian principle of basic education though the writing of Gandhi himself. His several books on education help this essay to review and assess the significance of his ideas of basic education from a historical perspective, which not only changed the educational system of India, but ushered in a social revolution.

 

Keywords: Mahatma Gandhi, Basic Education, Nail Talim, Handicrafts, Social Change.