{"id":2761,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2761"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:41","slug":"172-speeches-national-education-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/172-speeches-national-education-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-172_Speeches – National Education.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
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\nNational Education <\/font> <\/b>
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\nNational Education is a vast subject. When I was told about the
\ntopic I did not quite realise its implications at first, but when I started thinking about it I understood its importance. The
\ndifficulties about the concept of National Education that are encountered here do not exist in Bengal. Here in the Bombay
\nProvince, the meaning of the term “National Education” is not clear to many. National Education, with its specific connotation,
\nis suspect and men of wisdom dismiss it. In Bengal, on the other hand, the need to explain the concept does not even arise. There
\nmay be people in favour of it or against it, but National Education is something taken by them as a given fact, as something
\nthey have experienced. There is no need in Bengal to explain or discuss it in order to convince people about the sense it carries.
\nBut in the Bombay Province, it has only a verbal implication at the moment; it has not yet gone beyond mere talk, and that may
\nbe the reason why people are suspicious of it.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSomeone here told me that he does not understand what
\nNational Education means exactly. Someone else wondered whether there can be anything like National Education at all,
\nparticularly in the context of teaching, say, mathematics; he was at a loss to see how this could be called “national”. The Honourable Mr. Gokhale does not say that he has failed to understand the meaning of the term “National Education”, but
\nit is obvious that he has not really grasped its significance. At the National Congress held in Calcutta, a resolution on National
\nEducation was passed unanimously. Unfortunately, since the Congress at Surat did not take place, it could not be introduced
\nthere. Mr. Gokhale made certain modifications to the resolution
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\n
\nDelivered in Girgaum, Bombay, on 15 January 1908. Text published in Marathi trans<\/font><\/i>lation in 1908. Retranslated into English by the editors.<\/i>   <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\non National Education passed in Calcutta. In his opinion, these
\nmodifications are not of much importance. But my opinion is exactly the opposite. Perhaps Mr. Gokhale is not fully aware of
\nthe true situation in Bengal with regard to National Education. The word “national” appears in this resolution three times
\nand there is no doubt that it has been done with a certain intention. The alteration suggested by Mr. Gokhale does not
\nspeak of National Education; instead it introduces terms such as “independent system of education”. That term has a different
\nconnotation and it does not really convey what we mean by the phrase “National Education”. The Subjects Committee at
\nCalcutta introduced the word “national” three times. It is not for nothing that this was done. National Education must be
\nimparted in a national spirit: this was the resolution passed at Calcutta, and not a single word of it should be altered or
\ndropped.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nNational Education must be on national lines and under national control. Why do we have to qualify the term “education” by calling it “national”? This question is asked by many. These
\npeople maintain that we are not a nation to begin with. According to their thinking, what we call a nation is an imaginary thing,
\nnot a reality. In India, they say, there are thousands of castes and subcastes, countless sects and subsects, and any number
\nof religious creeds with differences of opinion and practice; in that case the use of the word “national” in the Indian situation
\nbecomes meaningless. But these people do not really understand what is meant by a nation. They suggest that a nation can only
\ncome into existence when these castes and creeds are abolished. But this line of argument\u2014 that we will have a nation only
\nwhen everyone in the country has the same religion and there is only one caste\u2014 is a fallacious one, for religion and caste are not
\npermanent aspects of a nation. Other people argue that although India is a vast country geographically, still it cannot be termed a
\nnation. But we view it differently. To us, by its very geography the country appears to be quite distinct from other countries,
\nand that itself gives it a certain national character. Italy stands out in the same way, separate from her surroundings, and in
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\nthirty years it became an independent nation. The inner and
\nouter body of India, the customs, culture and religion of its people, have an independent character different from those of
\nthe rest of the world. It has its foundations in the ancient past.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThose who oppose our view contend that India was never
\na nation. Let us see then what we mean by the word “nation”. When we say that National Education should be imparted, it
\nimplies that we need not throw away our traditional background and introduce completely new ideas and ideals. When we look
\nat the history of the country, we find that at one time we had a system of National Education. Look at our philosophy: what is
\nin the individual is also in the universal. A nation is a living entity, full of consciousness; it is not something made up or fabricated.
\nA living nation is always growing; it must grow, it must attain ever loftier heights. This may happen after a thousand years or
\nin the next twenty years, but happen it must.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOur personality, our constitution is made up of three parts.
\nWe have three types of body, gross, subtle and causal. In the same way the nation has three bodies. According to our philosophy it is not only the outward appearance, the gross body, that makes a complete man. All three bodies have to be taken
\ninto account; only then can we get some understanding of him. As with a man, so with a nation. To think about our nation is
\nfirst to think about our physical motherland. Stretching from the Himalayas in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, its
\nboundaries are formed by the seas on the east and west. Ganga, Jamuna, Narmada, Krishna, Godavari flow here unceasingly;
\nhere are ancient cities, tall and imposing temples, artistically designed palatial homes. Such is the part of this earth we call
\nIndia. It is this picture, this figure that comes to us when we speak of our nation. This is the gross body of our nation.
\nBankim Chandra’s song Bande Mataram <\/i>describes this aspect very beautifully. Thirty-three crores of people live on this land
\nwith their joys and sorrows, their good and bad desires: they are all part of its subtle body. Then there are aspects of the country
\nwhich may undergo changes in the course of time, yet always remain in the body, in seed-state, as permanent as the atom; they
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\nare always present there and, being the origin, it is out of them
\nthat the future takes shape. This is the causal body of the nation.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nBut this is not enough. According to our scriptures, when
\nwe think of a man we think not only of his present condition but also of his past and future. The same is true of a country. When
\nwe speak of the rivers, mountains and cities of our country, we have in mind not only the present, not at all. What we
\nspeak of is a history of five thousand years. When we speak of Delhi and Agra, does not the image of Delhi as it was during Emperor Akbar’s time stand before your mind’s eye? That is why, in speaking of the nation, we should recall the great
\nachievements of our ancestors; then Shivaji, Asoka and Akbar at once become an integral part of our nationhood. So too the
\nancient Rishis. This is taken for granted. If we look at Japan, we see that the Japanese people never forget their ancestors who
\noffered their lives as a sacrifice for the sake of their country. This sense of sacrifice is always present in the Japanese blood. When
\na warrior fights for his country, he recalls those sacrifices. This is something we must learn from Japan. We must learn from the
\nJapanese how to honour our ancestors and evoke the spirit of Nationalism by remembering them. Whatever you do today, you
\nare doing not for your own sake but to pay the debt you owe to them. This you must never forget. Not only your ancestors\u2014 the generations to come are also an organic component of your nation. When we envision an Indian nation, it should be along
\nthese lines. We should not be carried away by Western advances or cowed by their achievements. What we need is a wide, engaging vision of our nation and of nationalism; our action must match that vision and as a result our nation will produce great
\nphilosophers, statesmen, warriors and commanders. I don’t say this will happen today, but surely it will happen in the future.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe term "nation" is meaningful and significant; it has not been coined for
\npolitical convenience. In Bengal, while formulating the concept of National
\nEducation, we have kept before us this grand idea of the nation. Let us see how
\nthe details have been worked out in consonance with this lofty and noble
\nconcept. We shall take the simple subject of geography as an illustration.
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\nImagine how this subject is presently taught in Government and
\nprivate schools! The students are told about such-and-such a country with so many districts, with their District Officers and
\nso forth; this is the kind of information imparted in geography classes. But how is it useful? When we teach geography in Bengal according to the ideas of National Education, we teach it in a different way. First we tell the children that India is our
\nMotherland; in this way we make them aware of the gross body of the nation. We tell them about our rivers, Ganga, Jamuna,
\nNarmada, etc., and what these rivers mean, not merely where they flow. In our national schools, when we teach the children
\nabout Maharashtra we describe the land in which Shivaji lived. Speaking about Punjab, we tell the children about the Punjab of
\nRanjit Singh. Speaking about the geography of the Himalayas, we teach them how the land of the Himalayas has become holy
\nbecause of its Rishis. We also teach the geography of other nations, but what we impart to them is its importance in the
\ncontext of our country.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs with geography, so the history of the country is taught to
\nthe students of Bengal in a national context. We do not attach much importance to how many kings have ruled the country,
\nwhich king came to power in which year and how long his reign lasted or the date when the Battle of Plassey was fought. What
\nwe teach, rather, is how in ancient times the Aryans formed the nation, how today’s Marathas became Marathas, how the
\nBengalis became Bengalis, how the Punjabis became Punjabis. Once the students have understood these things clearly, it does
\nnot matter if they fail to know the year of the Battle of Plassey. In short, we believe that true history is not really taught through
\nthe present-day Government’s method of teaching.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIn our national schools in Bengal, as with geography and
\nhistory, so we teach philosophy based on the national system of education. We explain to the students in our national colleges in
\nwhat regard our philosophy is greater and more comprehensive than other philosophies in the world. In Government schools the
\ndegree-holders know what Schopenhauer has to say, but they have hardly any knowledge of the spiritual foundations of our
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\n\town thought. It should also be seen that whatever philosophy
\nthe students learn in colleges, they should try to put into practice. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNot that the system of National Education we have started
\nis altogether new; it was started long ago by our forefathers. Through this system Shivaji’s greatness will remain eternal,
\nAsoka’s fame and Akbar’s glory will spread across the earth and the grandeur and majesty of our ancient Rishis will be made
\nknown throughout the world. From our National Education programmes, nothing useful or worthwhile is discarded.
\n\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThis kind of national teaching is not provided in Government schools. In those schools the tender minds of our students
\nare overburdened with the European way of thinking. But European thought and the European way of life are quite different
\nfrom our thought and our way of life. It is true, of course, that when we speak of the development of our own country, we
\ncannot ignore the progress of modern Europe. In our reforms we must certainly include it; whatever is acceptable must be
\nadapted suitably by us. But we have to guard against damaging our foundation in the process. We must make use of Western
\nscience as Japan did, but in implementing its ideas we must not be blind to the achievements of our forefathers. For example,
\nin Government medical colleges the students remain unaware of our Ayurvedic science, though there are many occult and
\nvaluable truths behind it, to which the Western system has no access. This is not to assert that whatever is ours, is always the
\nbest. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIn the field of politics we have a lot to learn from the West.
\nThe democratic system of government is one thing we must learn from the Europeans. In providing National Education, we do not
\nisolate the students from the political field; in fact we give them first-hand experience of the democratic system of government by
\nmaking them work alongside us. Simply concerning ourselves with industry or commerce is not enough, and that is exactly
\nwhat we tell them. No country can rise to its height merely on the basis of trade and commerce. We learn from history that
\nthose nations which grew on the strength of trade alone, have perished. Europe pays special attention to formulating policies
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\nfor the development and growth of its industry and commerce.
\nYet in our programme of National Education we do impart practical knowledge to our students. In our schools the students learn
\nabout science in depth and not just superficially. And they are taught many vocational subjects, such as carpentry and smithy,
\nalong with science. The result is that when a student comes out of our schools, he does not find it difficult to earn a monthly
\nwage of twenty-five or thirty rupees.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWhile imparting such a National Education in a national
\nway, we place special emphasis on creating a future Indian nation. In planning our system of National Education we have to
\ntake into account various other systems of education. Principal Paranjape may speak of mathematics alone, but surely that is
\nnot enough. The one thought that impels us to provide National Education is this: When will this Indian nation occupy a place in
\nthe company of other nations? When will it be great among other nations in the world? Our learned and accomplished people must
\nbe great as people in other countries are great. This is always in our mind.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn our schools we give education up to the fifth standard in the mother-tongue of the students; teaching the children through
\nEnglish is harmful. Some people object to the use of Indian languages, saying that our languages do not have an adequate
\nvocabulary for teaching certain subjects. But our answer is simple: first experience it. The seventh standard in our national
\nschools is equivalent to the intermediate courses conducted by the universities. In our colleges we conduct a four-year course.
\nA college student usually studies a single subject and for that purpose special emphasis is given to the use of the English language. In spite of that, English is not given primary importance in the syllabus of our system of National Education; it has the
\nstatus of a second language. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nA student must be able to stand on his own. It is not the
\nobjective of National Education to make somebody else carry him on his shoulders. The student must support himself and not
\nlook helplessly to others. Self-reliance is the basic principle we diligently try to impart to a student. This is how we have been
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tworking in Bengal. We have absolutely no expectation of help
\nfrom the Government in our endeavour. On the contrary, with Government support our nationalist enthusiasm will disappear.
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps Mr. Gokhale will now understand and appreciate just what we mean by National Education. This may also make it
\nclear why we intended to put a specific resolution about National Education before the National Congress Committee at Surat.
\nWhat has been done in Bengal I have put before you. If you wish to see for yourselves, you are welcome. Those who have doubts
\nin their minds, those who think that National Education is an impossibility, we challenge you to witness its achievements in
\nBengal. Come and confirm it for yourselves. National Education in a national way and under national control is what we have
\nstarted in Bengal. In this work three zamindars have helped us greatly. Raja Subodh Chandra Mallik donated a lakh of rupees,
\nthe Maharaja of Mymensingh three lakhs and a zamindar from Gauripur five lakhs. When they offered these donations, they
\nput the condition that they would take back the entire sum if we should accept even a single paisa from the Government. The
\nreason is that when the Government spends money on education, it does so with the specific intention of creating a certain attitude
\nin the minds of the students. That attitude is nothing but loyalty to the Government. Besides, the Government has the intention
\nof introducing public reforms primarily to prove its own good governance.
\n  
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