Contribution of Indian Educationists in Early Childhood Education

Presented By:Shamli Rana

(2015HS12M)

MK GandhiEducation is an all

round drawing out of the best in child and man, in body, mind and spirit .

 Nai Talim should be the self supporting aspect of education, otherwise education will be like a lifeless body. Gandhiji’s Nai Talim approach includes:

Physical activity, Mother Tongue, Social Studies and General Sciences, Art, Arithmetic, Craft work including study of correlated subjects.

Free and compulsory education should be given in 8 years i.e. from 6-14 years in two phases.

Mother tongue as the medium of instruction for mental development.

External examinations are to be abolished. The day to day work of students is to be the determining factor.

Text books to be avoided as far as possible.Cleanliness and health, citizenship, play and recreation

are to be given sufficient importance.Useful manual labour, intelligently performed is the means

of ‘para intelligence’ for developing the intellect (Value of dignity of labour).

Opposed corporal punishment (Discipline).Student’s mind should not be caged and he should be

allowed to think freely (Freedom in education).

Rabindranath TagoreEducation is the highest

purpose of man’s life which can be achieved through ‘Nature contact'. The objective of education is the freedom of mind which can only be achieved through path of freedom.

The man’s most cruel and wasteful mistake is to expect child to learn in the same manner as adults learned. We should let the children explore the world in their own manner. We should observe child’s thoughts as they have subconscious mind which is more active than their conscious intelligence.

Living ideas cannot be set into clock-work arrangement. He was completely against punishment.

An ideal school is an Ashram where men have gathered for the highest end of life. His main objective was to provide spiritual culture to children.

“A teacher can never truly teach unless he is learning himself.” The teacher should have guiding spirit and the ability to facilitate it with personal love.

Zakir HussainThe aim of education according to Dr.

Zakir Hussain was emotional integration.

Education instead of being bookish, should become an integral part of the personality.

The teacher should not merely be a source of knowledge rather he should be a source of love and affection.

The school should function as a society.In curriculum, in addition to the study of

mother tongue, English should be taught as a literacy and international language. For acquiring knowledge, nature study, observation, and activity should be planned.

Sri Aurobindo Shri Aurobindo Ghosh was a great

revolutionary turned into a saint, philosopher and educator. His ideas on education are contained in books named, “A system of national education” and “Shri Aurobindo and the mother on education”.

His philosophy was that education has its maximum result if it begins from birth.

He emphasized more on mother’s contribution to child’s education. The part of education which the mother has to go through is to see that her thoughts are very beautiful and pure, her feelings always noble and fine and her material surroundings as harmonious as possible and simple.

His contribution:1. Creative approach to education: Ideas

according to him,should be organised around a central theme or higher ideal. It is not necessary to teach many subjects to the child. The child may find many approaches to the same subject.

2. Function of Education: The principle function of education is to discover the “psychic being” within the person.

3. Vehicles of learning: There are four vehicles of learning which include the vital (body), the physical (environment), the mental (attention, perception, problem solving) and the psychic are instrumental in cultivating power, beauty, knowledge and love respectively.

4. Independent work by Children: On the other hand the children should be given instruction on work sheets so that they are able to carry out these activities independently by following some kind of “discovery” or “heuristic” approach.

5. Free Progress system: Acc. to this system each student proceeds at his own rate. The students are allowed free choice in their subjects of study, develop areas of interest and take examinations only if they like.

6. Training of the senses: The five senses and the mind form the six senses of man. The training of these senses is the first care of the child.

Jiddu krishnamurthiHis teachings are based upon the ‘self-inquiry’ and

‘illumination’.His Educational Philosophy:Self knowledge is the best education. Freedom, rather

than conformity, is the essence of true knowledge.(i) Current System Of Education: The existing

system of education, according to Krishnamurthi, has some inherent drawback . It doesn’t awaken the integrated intelligence of the child.

(ii) Aims and Objectives of Education: The purpose of education is not to acquire knowledge and correlate it with other aspects of life. Education should prepare the child for life as a whole.

(iii)Approach to Curriculum: Education is not merely for the mental development of the child. It should not merely provide for technical efficiency. The child young children are easily influenced by environmental pressures.

(iv) Upbringing of Children by Parents: Parents’ love has no substitute. But most parents corrupt their love for children by foisting their own fears and ambition on their children. They try to condition them to a particular way of living and distort their outlook for life. Both parents and teachers need to be re-educated in this.

(v) Concept of Discipline: one drawback of external discipline is that the system assumes more important that the human beings who are included in it. Discipline takes the place of love. It is because our hearts are empty that we cling to discipline. Freedom can never come through resistance for change.

(vi) On teachers and type of Schools: We should have schools with a limited number of students. Small schools with limited financial resources are suggested. Right kind of education is concerned with the children not with the number of children it has on its rolls.

Tarabhai ModakTarabai Modak is a great

pioneer in pre-school education and child welfare programme in India. She evolved a simple Anganwadi (a courtyard or open school) on a rural pattern for pre-school care.

Main features of Aanganwadi or Meadow School Concept:It is meant for village children between the age of

3 and 6.It is a school located in the courtyard or open

space or under a tree in the village.It is looked after by a motherly village woman.The motherly village woman is trained in the basic

principles of child care including play techniques.Ordinary local equipment is used for teaching and

learning.

This Programme was basically launched for the tribal children of Kosabad hills in Maharashtra. . It now runs a complex of educational institutions beginning from ‘Balwadi’ to a ‘high school’, training institution for teachers at different levels and a workshop for educational materials. The meadow school concept is now turned into non- formal education. After training the trainees set up Anganwadis in villages to devise play materials and elicit community support.

Jawaharlal NehruHe was convinced that no amount of

money spent on children and their mothers was too much and that it was a sound investment for the future.

He was deeply interested in any scheme designed to benefit children and women, more especially the provision of mid-day meals for the under privileged school children.

Nehru was responsible for Indian Schools introducing knap sack which would hang on the back of children instead of the front or the sides.

He wanted children not to be stooping but to be erect while walking with a load of books on their back.

Kothari ComissionHeaded by Prof. D.S. Kothari,

popularly known as Kothari Comission departs from the traditional practice of dividing the period of school education into three stages- Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary. It makes pre-primary education an integral part of schooling.

To develop in the child good health habits and to build up basic skills necessary for personal adjustment, such as dressing, toilet habits, eating, washing, cleaning etc.

To develop emotional maturity by guiding the child to express, understand, accept and control his feelings and emotions.

To encourage aesthetic appreciation.To stimulate the beginnings of intellectual curiosity.To encourage independence and creativity by providing

the child with sufficient opportunities for self expression.

To develop the child’s ability to express his thoughts and feelings in fluent, correct and clear speech.

To develop in the child a good physique, adequate muscular coordination and basic motor- skills.

Yashpal Committee-Learning without BurdenIn its report titled ‘Learning without Burden’ committee

observes that ‘deeply harmful practices in pre-schools and primary schools such as early emphasis on shapely drawing, writing and memorizing information’ result in a lot of stress and anxiety for the children.

The committee recommends that:Appropriate legislative and administrative measures be

adopted to regulate the opening and functioning of early childhood education institutions (pre-schools).

Norms regarding accommodation, staff, apparatuses, play materials be laid down for the recognition of these schools.

It should be ensured that these institutions do not perpetrate violence on young children by influencing a heavy dose of ‘ over-education’ in the form of formal teaching of Reading, Writing and Numbers.

The practice of holding tests and interviews for admission to nursery class be abolished.

There is no justification for torturing the young children by compelling them to carry very heavy bags of books everyday to schools.