Why Did Mahatma Gandhi Want to Teach Children Handicrafts?
By Balaji
Updated on: February 17th, 2023
Mahatma Gandhi wanted to teach children handicrafts because he believed that it was the best way of providing practical knowledge to children. He considered education to be more than simply learning to read and write from textbooks. Rather, by interacting with them on a practical level, children should be taught how to produce things.
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1. Mahatma Gandhi’s Handicrafts Teaching to Children
Mahatma Gandhi’s Handicrafts Teaching to Children
Mahatma Gandhi emphasised the value of teaching children to make crafts. He had very different ideas about what literacy and education meant. He believed that literacy, which includes reading and writing, did not ensure that children would receive an education. Gandhi believed that education meant teaching a child how to make crafts from a young age.
Learn more about the following reasons why Mahatma Gandhi wished to teach children how to make crafts:
- Gandhi said that literacy referred to the simple act of reading and writing. This, according to him, could not be the process of ‘educating’ someone.
- According to him, education meant something that is taught to draw out the best in man and child, in spirit, mind, and body.
- He believed in teaching the children the “whys and hows” of the process of creating something in a scientific and not mechanical manner.
- He believed in the importance of teaching children how to work with their hands.
- Gandhi also explicitly said that western education did not contribute to practical knowledge or experiences.
- He said that textbooks only gave importance to reading and writing and not oral knowledge.
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