ABSTRACT
This chapter explicates Gandhi’s critique of colonial education by juxtaposing it with features of his own programme of reconstructing basic education. These ideas of reconstruction were rooted in social and pedagogical reform manifested in the pragmatic idea of building a child’s character through social service, which was also instrumental in building a nation. Vernacular languages were to replace English as the medium of instruction, and education was meant to be a rural affair: with village schools and ashrams in lieu of colonial institutions. Based on a description of these features, this essay ultimately locates Gandhi’s programme of educational reconstruction for the masses within a broader project of nation-building at the grassroot level, which consequently attacked the very base of the colonial system of education.
