“Literacy in itself is not education”
Mahatma Gandhi wrote:
By education I mean an all-around drawing out of the best in child and man-body, mind and spirit. Literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning. It is only one of the means whereby man and woman can be educated. Literacy in itself is not education. I would therefore begin the child’s education by teaching it a useful handicraft and enabling it to produce from the moment it begins its training … I hold that the highest development of the mind and the soul is possible under such a system of education. Only every handicraft has to be taught not merely mechanically as is done today but scientifically, i.e. the child should know the why and the wherefore of every process.
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
(i) How does Mahatma Gandhi view literacy?
(ii) Why does he give so much emphasis on learning a useful handicraft?
(i) According to Mahatma Gandhi literacy in itself is not education. It is not the end of education nor even the beginning. It is only one of the means whereby man and woman can get education. Hence, it should not be anyone’s goal.
(ii) He gives much emphasis on learning a useful handicraft because it enables the child to produce from the moment he Begins its training. It makes him aware of how different things are operated.