Page 86 - Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 21st Century ISBN

21oha “krkCnh esa vkpk;Z fouksck Hkkos dh izklafxdrk

ensured joy in life. Hence educating heart, hand and head was ultimately to take the human being to the
state of sat-chit-anand.

The third derivative of Nai Talim was that all human life is equally to be respected. Social
cleavage had no place in where Nai Talim education was imparted. Vinoba went on to extend this

principle to the entire humanity of the world. He wrote, “The basis of Bhoodan is the contention that
the land is for all, and that no individual ought to exercise rights of ownership in it. If this idea is

extended to the international field it means that no one nation can regard its land the property of that
national alone. The whole of the world is for the whole of humanity. In Nai Talim there are no distinction

between man and woman. 21
Vinoba extended the idea of Bhoodan to Gramdan. He visualised that if Nai Talim was the

way of learning and educating the next generation in the country then it would help in integrating the
villages. According to him, “One of the objectives of the Nai Talim is to bring about this integration in

the village where it begins; it aims at building up this kind of society. Our village today are riven by every
possible kind of cleavage - divisions between rich and poor, master and labourer, Brahmin and non-

Brahmin, Harijan and non-Harijan. It is the intention of Nai Talim to do away with all these innumerable
sections and cross-sections, distinctions and cleavages.” 22

Vinoba on Principles of Nai Talim Syllabus

The Wardha Convention on education in 1937 had agreed to change the education and base
it on the ideas of Gandhiji. It was named as Nai Talim. A committee was constituted under the

Chairmanship of Dr. Zakir Hussain. It submitted a detailed report that contained a syllabus that could
be followed by the Nai Talim Institutions. Gandhiji wrote foreword to it in which he indicated about

syllabus. He said, “The fact that the first one thousand copies of this pamphlet have been sold out
shows that Dr. Zakir Hussain and his committee have called Basic National Education is extracting fair

interest in India and outside. A more correct though much less attractive description would be Rural
National Education through village handicrafts. ‘Rural’ excludes the so-called higher or English education.

‘National’ at present connotes truth and non-violence. And ‘through village handicraft’ means that the
framers of the scheme expect the teachers to educate village children in their village so as to draw out

all their faculties through some selected village handicraft in an atmosphere free from superimposed
restrictions and interference. Thus considered, the scheme is a revolution in the education of village

children. It is in no sense an importation from the West. If the reader bears this fact in mind he will be
better able to follow the scheme of the preparation of which some of the best educationists have given

their undivided attention.” 23

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