Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children Handicrafts?

Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children Handicrafts Overview

According to Mahatma Gandhi, learning about handicrafts is necessary to develop the capacity to understand things more thoroughly. Gandhiji wanted to introduce handicrafts to kids. They would be able to understand how things are produced. Children should know every aspect of a process. Their mental growth and capacity for better understanding would result from it. According to Mahatma Gandhi, western education prioritized reading and writing over oral knowledge and placed a higher value on textbooks than on practical knowledge and lived experience. He argued that education should help someone grow intellectually and spiritually. Literacy, or the act of merely learning to read and write, was not considered education in and of itself. People had to learn a craft, use their hands, and understand how various devices worked. Their ability to think and understand things would grow as a result. Thus, Gandhiji wanted to teach children handicrafts.

Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?

Mahatma Gandhi thought that early craft instruction was an important part of education for children. Learn more about why Mahatma Gandhi wished to teach children how to make crafts for the following reasons:

1. Gandhi claimed that literacy was simply the ability to read and write. He believed that this could not be the "educating" process.
2. He defined education as something that imparted knowledge to bring out the best in both adults and children, in both spirit and mind and body.
3. He was adamant that children should be taught the whys and hows of how something is made using a scientific approach rather than a mechanical one.
4. He was a firm believer in the value of teaching kids how to use their hands.
5. Gandhi also stated unequivocally that western education did not add to real-world knowledge or experiences.
6. He claimed that reading and writing were the only skills in textbooks given importance, not oral knowledge.

Advantages of Art Focused Instruction

Through original feeling and self-articulation, focused training creates harmony between theories and repetitive learning. By valuing socially significant work that addresses the problems of urban and rural Indians, it aids in reducing the gap between manual and academic abilities and combating biases. It gives one a positive outlook on finding a nice job through practical sources of income and neighborhood forces that produce beneficial social structures and small businesses. 

Being associated with farming and manufacturing

Gandhiji believed that basic education should include manual labor as a way to round out the curriculum. He firmly believed in the value of a well-rounded educational program, even in the fundamental education that introduces children to the world of work through horticulture, outdoor activities, carpentry, and other skills. As a result, the danger of making education too academic or scholastic would be reduced, and attitudes toward work, ability, and work would be positively impacted. 

Key Takeaways

To sum up from why did mahatma gandhi want to teach children handicrafts are as follows-

1. Gandhi wished for children to learn practical skills in handicrafts, to broaden their horizons, and to become more intelligent.
2. He wanted to encourage children's natural curiosity about how things work as well as help them acquire the skills necessary to support themselves and help build their country.
3. Additionally, he held the view that "literacy by itself is not education."
4. He favors children's overall development.