Early Childhood Care, Education and Development 1. H10EC14 -SRI AUROBINDO GHOSH, GIJUBHAI BADHEKA, TARABAI MODAK Objectives By learning this lesson Students are able to understand the early childhood educationists namely Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Gijubhai Badheka and Tarabai Modak Students learn the principles of childhood education they followed 10.14.1 Introduction Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Gijubhai Badheka, Tarabai Modak are the contemporary humanistic philosophers and educationists of India. They paved the way for the highest spiritual and educational growth of human being. 10.14.2 Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950) Sri Aurobindo Ghosh had great faith in the Gurukula system of education and created Ashram school in Pondicherry in the year 1943. Aurobindo’s integral yoga and spiritual yoga are the sources of ideas for his scheme of education. He emphasizes that a man possess physical and mental spirit and the spiritual soul has the capacity to recognize and realize God. According to Aurobindo, real education provides a free and creative environment to the child by developing the child’s interests, creativity, mental, moral and aesthetic senses and finally leads to the development of the spiritual powers.The main aim of education is to bring out the real man. 10.14.3 Principles True teaching is that nothing can be taught. The teacher is not an instructor or task master; he is a helper and guide. The role of the teacher “is to suggest and not to impose”. He does not actually train the pupil’s mind, he only shows her how to perfect the instruments of knowledge and helps and encourages her in the process. He does not impart knowledge to her; he shows her how to acquire knowledge for herself. The teacher is like a friend and torch bearer of the child. Education should take the child from the known to unknown and from the near to the far. Audio-visual materials help in getting real or stimulated experiences. It should be given according to the interests of the child who will motivate to learn well. It should be provided with a free environment so that the child gains more knowledge by her own efforts and experiences. This leads to permanent learning and useful for future. It should be imparted through the medium of mother tongue. It should develop consciousness. It should develop all the faculties of child to make the child a complete man. It should be child-centered. The whole teaching process is based upon the child. The capacities of the child should be considered. Concentration and Abhyasa or steady natural practices are the main principles of learning. The best method of learning is learning by doing. Hence Aurobindo emphasized Montessori Method for young children. Children should be treated with love, sympathy and consideration which promote child’s normal development at the maximum potential. Teaching and learning is a co-operative process. It should train the senses of child. Apart from the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, Aurobindo has included the mind also as the sixth sense. Subjects of education should be interesting and motivate the children towards the attainment of knowledge of the whole world. The curriculum should contain creativity of life and constructive capacities. The best method of moral education is by personal example, daily conversation and the books read from day-to-day. Education should encourage the self discipline of the child. The basis of discipline is purification of the mental and moral habits. The child discriminates the right and wrong impressions and to absorb the right ones. The moral and conducive development of the child should be done. All round development of the child should be done by education. There should be religious tinge in education. Brahamcharya should be the basic foundation of education. It is like a life of saint which helps in concentration. It fills with energy for body, heart, mind and spirit. Self-control leads to God-realization. There is no ‘final examination’ in Aurobindo’s scheme of education. Learning was an end in itself and not a means for success in any formal examination and recognitions theorem. 10.14.4 Aims of education Shri Aurobindo emphasized that education should be in accordance with the needs of our real modern life. In other words, education should create dynamic citizens so that they are able to meet the needs of modern complex life. According to Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, the following are the aims of education. Physical development and purity- It is the body which performs all religious obligations. Physical development and purification are the two important bases on which the spiritual development is built. When the body is sound, the brain works well and the child can attain success. Development of senses- It trains the senses namely hearing, speaking, listening, touching, smelling and tasting. Through education purity of senses is to be achieved. According to Aurobindo, the first work of the teacher is to develop the method of proper use of the six senses. Mental development- It develops all mental faculties such as thinking, reasoning, imagination, memory, discrimination, decision making power etc. through education fully and harmoniously. The interests and inner powers of the child can be developed on the basis of mental growth. Growth of logical power- Aurobindo believes that the logical power of the child must be necessarily developed after the development of the child’s mental powers. Development of morality- The hearts of children are developed to show extreme love, sympathy and consideration for all living beings. Development of conscience- The four levels of conscience such as Chitta, Manas, Intelligence and Knowledge should be developed harmoniously. It develops remembrance, awakening and intelligence of the child, which develops all round development of the child. Spiritual development- Every human being has some divinity in her. Education finds it and develops it to the fullest extent. The chief aim of education is to help the growing soul to draw out that in itself which is best and make it perfect for a noble use. It builds the power of human mind and spirit. Spiritual development grows the thinking and imaginative capacity of the person. Aurobindo gives importance to the controlling of the mind to a state of silence and stillness, immune to distractions. He gives importance to spiritual education and universal humanity. Education unites these two for the betterment of humanity. 10.14.5 Gijju Bhai Badheka (1885-1939) The full name of Giju Bhai was Girja Shanker Bhagwanji Badeka. His faith was that the education is for child and not the child for education. He gave importance to the child rather than curriculum. He believed in children’s right to freedom. He did not prefer physical punishment and believed that learning is possible only in the environment of love and sympathy. He wrote about 223 books for children and many more for teachers and guardians. Gujibhai Badheka is the first Indian educator who started first working in the field of early childhood education. Gujibhai Badheka and Tarabai Modak were the early educators inspired by Madam Montessori, adopted her methods to suit Indian conditions. A training centre at Bhavnagar Dakshinamoorti was started by Giju Bhai and later Tarabai Modak started at Dadar Bombay. They developed an indigenous educational system, imbibing the basic Gandhian philosophy and integrating it with the educational principles and scientific pedagogy of Madam Montessori. Gijubhai Badheka started working in the field of preschool education in 1920 at Bhavnagar in Gujarat. He was later joined by Shrimati Tarabai Modak. Both of them together prepared material for teachers and started a training college for preschool teachers. Later on he founded a society for preschool education and published literature in this rather neglected area of education. 10.14.6 Contributions to early childhood education Gijubhai Badeka established the first Montessori school in India in 1920. He attempted to introduce this method, by removing the didactic materials altogether and replacing them with storybooks, storytelling, role-plays, local games and creative exercises. In this way, he afforded the children greater freedom; without didactic materials, they could express more of their own potential. Child-centered education Gijubhai Badeka emphasised child-centered education. The main characteristic of child- centered education is the supremacy of the child. It develops the qualities like discipline, self- dependence and hard work among children. It is considered as very important because of the following points. Child wise education- The child is provided the utmost supremacy. The education is based on the interests and capacities of the child. Simple and interesting- It is very simple and interesting. The modern knowledge is provided simply and interestingly to the child. Chances of self-expression- The children get the chances of self-expression in child- centered education. Enforcement upon training of organs of knowledge- Special enforcement is given upon the training of organ of knowledge. The mind is really developed only by training the organs of knowledge. Practical and social- It provides the practical and social education to the child. Nutan Bal Shikshan Sangh Nutan Bal Shikshan Sangh (NBSS- New Child Education Association) was started in 1926 by Gijubhai Badheka and Tarabai Modak at Dakshinamurti Foundation in Bhavnagar in Gujarat state. It is a pioneer institute in child education. Its mission was creating awareness of child education all over India. The first balwadi was started in a coastal village in Thane district of Maharashtra by NBSS. The objectives of NBSS are given below: To promote child education by conducting research work and disseminated the new theories and adopting suited to Indian conditions. To encourage the people who worked in child education and to write original books. To encourage translations from other language regarding education of children into the national language and regional languages.