National Education *

                     THE meaning of national education is now well understood in Bengal, but the case seems to be quite otherwise in this part of the country. Even the Honourable Mr. Gokhale showed his ignorance of the matter by tampering at Surat with the wording of the resolution on national education passed at the Calcutta Congress. Some of these people appear to think that there can be no "national" education for India, where, according to them, the existence of various conflicting creeds and races makes the growth of a feeling of nationality an impossibility. This view is utterly wrong. The very geographical position of the country, isolating it from other parts of the world, argues its separate national existence. Italy, which is isolated like India, achieved national independence within a space of thirty years. Shivaji, Akbar, Ashoka as well as the Rishis of old are amongst the component parts of the Indian nation. Let us learn from Japan how to awaken the national spirit among the people by a contemplation of the heroic deeds of our ancestors. Let us bear in mind that we have a debt to discharge not only towards our ancestors but also to our posterity. If such a noble ideal is steadily kept before our mental vision, we shall see that our nation will give birth to great philosophers, statesmen and generals. This ideal has been kept in view in guiding the movement for national education in Bengal. In teaching geography we impress upon the minds of our students that India is their Motherland, that Maharashtra produced Shivaji, that the Punjab was once ruled by Ranjitsingh, and that the Himalaya gave shelter to our ancient Rishis. History and philosophy, too, are taught in a similar manner with a view to awaken the spirit of nationality amongst the pupils. Nothing that is useful or important is neglected in the scheme, and instruction is, as far as possible, imparted in the vernacular. This is not the case with the education imparted in Government schools where the tender   

*Speech delivered on January 15, 1908 at Girgaum, Bombay.

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minds of students are uselessly burdened with Western ideas utterly antagonistic to their own modes of living and thinking. In profiting by our contact with Western civilisation, we should be careful not to cut ourselves adrift from our original moorings, but should at the same time imitate the Japanese in taking the fullest advantage of modern scientific discoveries. In political matters we have much to learn from the Western nations, and we should also turn to them for lessons in popular Government. In our scheme of national education, we teach students how to take an active part in politics, as we believe that without such training their education will not be complete. As we teach them some handicrafts, they find it easy to obtain moderately remunerative employment on leaving our schools, which is not the case with the pupils attending Government institutions. Our seventh standard equals the intermediate course of the Indian Universities. Self-reliance forms the guiding principle of our scheme of education. We do not look to Government for help as we think that State assistance will destroy our national stamina. We challenge those who have been harping upon the alleged impracticability of imparting education "on national lines", to visit Bengal and see what is being done there in that direction. Some of the Zemindars have given us substantial aid in carrying out our plans on condition that we accept no assistance from Government.

(The same paper gives the following report of a second lecture delivered by Mr. Aurobindo Ghose at the Halai Lohana Mahajanwadi at Bombay on 19th January. Though the handbills announcing the lecture were published only four hours before the time fixed for the lecture, over three thousand people gathered to hear Babu Aurobindo Ghose. He alluded to the heavy sentence passed upon the printer of the Yugantar and remarked that the secret of the new awakening in Bengal lay in a firm belief in the justice of the national cause and an abiding faith in God. Our helplessness, he continued, when contrasted with the might of the ruling class, gave rise to a feeling of despondency in ordinary people and made them look upon the efforts of the National Party as those of lunatics. But the national movement in Bengal was

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based on the fact that what seemed impossible to ordinary minds was easy to those who had unshakable faith in God. It is feelings like these that enabled the Bengalis to disregard harassments, floggings and incarceration. The people of Maharashtra would be able to experience the effect of these feelings when the national movement took root among them.)

January 15, 1908

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