{"id":2002,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:51","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2002"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:38:51","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:38:51","slug":"71-national-education-vol-08-karmayogin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/08-karmayogin\/71-national-education-vol-08-karmayogin","title":{"rendered":"-71_National Education.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tNational Education <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tFROM the beginning of the
\nnational movement, in spite of its enthusiasm, force,
\ninnate greatness, a defect has made itself apparent, a
\nfatality of insufficient effectiveness has pursued it, which
\nshowed that there was a serious flaw somewhere in this
\nbrilliant opening of a new era. The nature of that flaw has
\nbeen made manifest by the period of trial in which, for a
\ntime, the real force which made for success has been temporarily
\nwithdrawn, so that the weaknesses still inherent in the
\nnation might be discovered and removed. The great flaw was the
\nattempt to combine the new with the old, to subject the
\nconduct of the resurgence of India to the aged, the cautious, the
\nhesitating, men out of sympathy with the spirit of the new age,
\nunable to grasp the needs of the future, afraid to apply
\nthe bold and radical methods which could alone transform the
\nnation, sweep out the rottenness in our former corrupt
\nnature and, by purifying Bengal, purify India. It is now apparent
\nthat it was the Nationalist element which by its energy,
\ncourage, boldness of thought, readiness to accept the conditions
\nof progress, gave the movement its force and vitality.
\nWherever that force has been withdrawn, the movement has
\ncollapsed. The older men have shown them-selves utterly unable
\neither to supply the moral force that would sustain the forward march
\nof the nation or the brain-power to grapple with national
\nproblems. In Swadeshi the force of sentiment supplied, and
\nthe persistence of the great mass of silent nationalism in
\nresisting any attempt to draw back from boycott has preserved, the
\nmovement to prefer indigenous and boycott foreign goods, but
\nthe withdrawal of active Nationalist Endeavour has resulted in
\nthe stoppage of progress. Swadeshi maintains itself, it no
\nlonger advances. National Education languishes because the active
\nforce has been withdrawn from it; it<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-385<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tdoes not absolutely perish because a certain amount of Nationalist self-devotion has
\nentrenched itself in this last stronghold and holds it against great
\nodds under the most discouraging circumstances. A certain
\namount only, \u2013because part of the active enthusiasm and self-sacrifice which
\n\t\t\tcreated the movement, has been
\ndeliberately extruded from it in obedience to fear or even baser
\nmotives, part has abandoned it in disgust at the degeneration of the
\nsystem in incapable hands and the rest is now finding its
\nself-devotion baffled and deprived of the chance of success by
\nthe same incapacity and weakness at headquarters. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe National Council of
\nEducation, as it is at present composed, has convicted
\nitself of entire incapacity whether to grasp the meaning of the
\nmovement or to preserve or create the conditions of its success. To
\nthe majority of the members it is merely an interesting academical
\nexperiment in which they can embody some of their pet hobbies
\nor satisfy a general vague dissatisfaction with the
\nestablished University system. To others the only valuable part of it
\nis the technical instruction given in its workshops. The two or
\nthree who at all regard it as part of a great national movement,
\nare unnerved by fear, scepticism and distrust and, by
\nintroducing the principles of Chanakya into its public policy,
\nare depriving it of the first condition of its continued existence.
\nIt is folly to expect that the nation at large will either pay
\nheavily or make great sacrifices merely to support an interesting
\nacademic experiment, still less to allow a few learned men to spoil
\nthe intellectual development of the race by indulging their hobbies
\nat the public expense. That the people will not support a mere
\ntechnical education divorced from that general humanistic
\ntraining which is essential to national culture, has been sufficiently
\nproved by the failure of Mr. Palit's Technical College to command
\nadequate financial support. Unless this movement is carried on, as
\nit was undertaken, as part of a great movement of national
\nresurgence, unless it is made, visibly to all, a nursery of
\npatriotism and a mighty instrument of national culture, it cannot
\nsucceed. It is foolish to expect men to make great sacrifices while
\ndiscouraging their hope and enthusiasm.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-386<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIt is not intellectual
\nrecognition of duty that compels sustained self-sacrifice in masses
\nof men; it is hope, it is the lofty ardour of a great cause, it is
\nthe enthusiasm of a noble and courageous effort. It is amazing that
\nmen calling themselves educated and presuming to dabble with
\npublic movements should be blind to the fact that the
\nsuccess or failure of National Education is intimately bound up with
\nand, indeed, entirely depends upon the fortunes of the great
\nresurgence which gave it birth. They seem to labour under the
\ndelusion that it was an academical and not a national impulse
\nwhich induced men to support this great effort, and they seek to
\nsave the institution from a premature death by exiling from it
\nthe enthusiasm that made it possible. They cannot ignore the
\nservice done by that enthusiasm, but they regard it merely as
\nthe ladder by which they climbed and are busy trying to kick it
\ndown. They are really shutting off the steam, yet expect the
\nlocomotive to go on. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe successful
\norganisation of the Bengal National College in Calcutta was the work
\nof its able and enthusiastic Superintendent aided by a body of
\nyoung and self-sacrificing workers. The National Council which
\nnominally controlled, in reality only hampered it; all that
\nthe Council contributed to the system, was its defects. The
\nschools in the Mofussil were created by the enthusiasm of the Nationalist party,
\n\t\t\tthe propaganda of its leaders and the ardent
\nself-devotion of little bands of workers who gave their self-sacrifice
\nand enthusiasm to lay the foundations. The Nationalist Council
\nhas never lifted a single finger to help the Mofussil schools
\nbeyond doling out unsubstantial grants to maintain them merely as
\nnecessary feeders of the Calcutta institution. But unless a
\nmovement of this kind is supported by wise organisation and
\nenergetic propagandism emanating from an active central
\nauthority, it must soon sink under the weight of unsolved problems,
\nunsurmounted difficulties and unamended defects. The curriculum of
\nthe Council is extraordinarily elaborate and expensive, and
\ninvolves a great outlay for the formation of library, laboratory and
\nworkshops, and, arranged as it is on the vicious Western system
\nof driving many subjects at a time into the growing
\nintellect, is slow, cumbrous, a strain on the<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-387<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tmind of the students,
\nwasteful of time, impossible without an unusual number of good
\nteachers. The financial problem created is one of crushing
\ndifficulty, yet the Council think they have done their duty when they have
\ncreated the problem and do not seem even to dream that there
\nis any call on them to solve it. Even for the Calcutta College
\nin whose maintenance they are more keenly interested, they
\ncan only make feeble and spasmodic efforts when, as annually
\nhappens, there is a deficit in the budget. The academical problem of
\nteaching so many subjects in so short a time without outdoing
\nthe exploits of the Calcutta University as a brain-killing and
\nlife-shortening machine, does not seem to occur to these lofty
\nand secluded minds. They are content with creating the problem
\nand maintaining it by their system of examinations. Even if
\nfunds were forthcoming, there would still be the necessity of
\nproviding a regular and plentiful supply of teachers trained in an
\nentirely new system of instruction. This urgent problem the Council
\nhas systematically ignored, and not even the elementary steps
\nof establishing a Teachers' Training Class in Calcutta and
\nissuing a series of suitable books in the vernacular has been
\nattempted. The only problems which the Council seems willing to
\ngrapple with are, first, the problem of supporting National
\nEducation without incurring the wrath of the officials and,
\nsecondly, the problem of evading the spirit of the clause which
\nforbids it to subject itself to any form of Government control, while
\nobserving the letter so as to prevent the invalidation of its
\n\t\t\tendowments. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBut if the National
\nCouncil is content to fail in its duty, the country cannot be content to allow
\n\t\t\tthis great educational enterprise to perish. We do not
\nknow how or by whom the Council is elected. It seems to
\nhave followed the example of so many bodies in India which have
\nstarted as democratic institutions and ended as close
\ncorporations self-electing and self-elected. But if it is impossible to
\nalter the component character of this body and put into it
\nkeener blood and clearer brains, some other centre of effort must be
\ncreated which will undertake to grapple with the problems of
\nNational Education, the supply of trained and self-devoted teachers
\nand of books which will guide them<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-388<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tin
\nthe imparting of knowledge on new lines, the reawakening of interest, hope and
\nenthusiasm in the country, the provision of the necessary funds to the mofussil
\nschools, the forcing on the Council by the pressure of public opinion of a more
\n\t\t\trational and a more national system of teaching. But the first condition
\n\t\t\tof success is the reawakening of the national movement all along the line, and
\nthis can only be done by the organisation and resolute activity of the
\nNationalist party. <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tOTHER<\/span> WRITINGS<\/span>
\nBY SRI AUROBINDO<\/span> IN THIS ISSUE
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tStead
\nand Maskelyne<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnandamath XII<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-389<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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