The Economy of Permanence: A Quest for a Social Order Based on Non-violence (स्थायी अर्थतन्त्र)

Economy of Permanence
But I find that this is best taught by transmitting such general information by
word of mouth, one imparts ten times as much in this manner as by reading and
writing. The signs of the alphabet may be taught later when he has somewhat
developed his or her tastes. This is a revolutionary proposal but it saves
immense labour and enables a student to acquire in one year what he may take
longer to learn. This means all-round economy. Of course the pupil learns
mathematics whilst he is learning his handicraft.
"I attach the greatest importance to primary education which according to my
conception should be equal to the present matriculation less English. If ail the
collegians were all of a sudden to forget their knowledge, the loss sustained by
the sudden lapse of the memory of say a few lacs of collegians would be as
nothing compared to the loss that the nation has sustained and is sustaining
through the ocean of darkness that surrounds three hundred millions. The
measure of illiteracy is no adequate measure of the prevailing ignorance among
the millions of villagers".
The education of children in the early stages can never be self-supporting. The
articles they may produce will not command any exchange value. If the State is
to take them over that will only be another way of meeting the loss and we
shall be deceiving ourselves that education is self-supporting. What Gandhiji
means by self-supporting is not that each year of the child must be paid for by
the products that the child makes in that year. This is too narrow a financial
view point and it can never be true. What is meant is a much wider value, not
in terms of money only but in terms of future services rendered by the child as
a well-trained citizen. At present, frequently the drilling in the three R's that a
child gets in a village is so feeble that after a few years it lapses into illiteracy
gain and the time and money spent on the child become a sheer waste in
course of time. But if it had been properly spent, the production of the class,
though it may not pay for itself each year, in the course of the seven year's
schooling, the aggregate production of the class, ought to cover amount spent
on the salary of the teacher. In the first two years there will be losses, in the
next three years it may just balance and the last years, if the child had been
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