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

Economy of Permanence
expert workmen at the age of fourteen but, the pupil will have acquired
sufficient training to enter a vocation in which he will do his talents justice.
The central idea of this scheme is that intellectual development must be
attained through vocational training. The present system emphasizes general
education and bases vocational training on it. Therefore, when intellectual
training come first, we, in a way, tie the hands and feet of the child and he
becomes impractical. No amount of the latter training will ever restore his
limbs paralysed in childhood. Instruction, without experience to base it on,
becomes a pure memoty training exercise. It does not develop any initiative or
personality.
Examination: The brunt of examinations will be borne by the teaching staff not
by the pupils under this scheme. As the pupil's life is to be controlled by the
teacher for 24 hours of the day, the teacher becomes knit together with the
home of every child and so with the village. The work of the teacher will be
reflected in the condition of the homes and of the village.
Women's Part: We have to follow the natural physical development of the child
and follow it mentally, morally and spiritually. The child takes interest in form,
colour and movement and then tries to understand the reason why things are
what they are. Then he will experiment to see if he cannot make things what
he wants them to be. Thus he advances from play to investigation and then to
creation. Our educational system has to cater for these three stages of growth
if we plan on eliciting the best in each child. To do this, the teacher ought to
be fully qualified to enter into the spirit of the child and share it with him. By
temperament and natural endowment, women, generally speaking, are better
able to understand children of the first stage. The system in India suffers in no
small measure by the lack of education among women. The mothers are not
qualified to train the child nor can we get properly educated young women to
enter the schools as teachers. It seems to me if we are to reform the schools,
the first step is the education of girls and young women, who are the natural
custodians of the generations to come. Unless we begin there, any amount of
planning and scheming by mere man will be in vain as he only comes in after
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