THE FOUR ESSENTIAL VALUES
During a convocation address, Dr. Zakir Hussain gave four self evident values for the young people. They are health, strength, beauty, and cleanliness. These simple values tend to expand as one endeavors to realize them. When one pursues health, he finds himself pursuing the objectives of a healthy body, healthy mind and a healthy character.
A strong vigorous body enables one to be strong, alert, disciplined mind and a strong character. Such a person possesses a firm, efficient, persevering and thorough personality. Beauty refers to beauty inside and outside as well as a beautiful world around. The objective of a clean body entails one to have an unblotted clean mind and a clean life.
EDUCATIONALLY PRODUCTIVE WORK :
Dr. Zakir Hussain in his own choicest words gave one of the finest statements about the meaning of work in education. He placed work on the niche of honor and worship. His idea of work has developed across the years not through bookish knowledge but through devotion and experience. He says, ―I have after years of thinking on the subject come to the conviction that work is the only instrument of effective education. It may sometimes be manual work and sometimes non-manual work. Although it is work alone that can educate, I have also come to the conviction by long observation and experience that all work does not educate‖. Only that work is educative which serves value. Dr. Hussain calls such work of educational value as ‘educationally productive work‘; work which helps in the cultivation of the mind.
Other views on education are: (i) productive work should be related to mental work. (ii) The sequence in work education is ‘thinking and doing‘ and ‘doing and thinking‘. The real school work consists in training children to think before they take up an activity. He lays emphasis on the fact that work should be planned and executed. It‘s ‘why‘ and
‘how‘ must be carefully considered. He firmly believed that work is worship.
FREEDOM, DISCIPLINE AND AUTHORITY :
He reiterates that freedom and authority are not opposites. There is no authority in education without inner freedom. There is no freedom without creative work and orderly environment. The individual is helped by the school to go through certain stages. In the beginning the authority of teachers is of experience and maturity. At the end, the authority is of the values developed by the child. Responsibility, freedom and discipline go hand in hand and education should train the student in each of these.
THE TEACHER‘S ROLE :
The teacher must make all efforts to lead his pupils to acquire higher values of life. This he should do through his personal conduct and character. The teacher is not to dictate or dominate, instead he is to help and serve the student. The teacher must also understand that the pupils have their own personality and the personality must be well looked after and nourished. The teacher should be an embodiment of love and patience in dealing with the children.
TEACHER AS THE CUSTODIAN OF VALUES :
What sort of am could be an ideal teacher? Dr. Hussain has clear vision about this. He has categorized human beings based on some dominating principles. The highest principle of theoretical man is truth, that of imaginative man is beauty, that of the economic man is gain, that of religious man is salvation, that of political man is power, and that of social man is love. It is rather difficult to find a pure type but they have some dominating principles. Dr. Hussain considers predominantly a character of the social type can make a good teacher. The teacher belonging to social type is characterized by love for other fellow beings, a feeling of solidarity and belongingness with them, an urge to help them, and finds joy in giving oneself up for them. The teacher is not to dictate or dominate the pupils but help and serve them in order to mould and shape them in faith and love. The teacher should be the custodian of the highest values cherished by the society. It is his pious duty to transmit these values to his pupils through the charisma of his personality.
EDUCATION AND CULTURE :
History is the record of the past and in it are the roots of our inheritance. The depth and expanse of it is very vast. Our present should be based on a sound footing of the past experience taking into consideration of the present and aimed at a bright future. Our history is enriched by a variety of cultures and civilizations, a good number of world religions and great philosophers. It is the function of education to sift through the rich heritage and make them available for the moral and spiritual nourishment of growing generations. Dr. Hussain says
―Education should be able to distinguish between the heritage that helps and that heritage hampers the tradition that undermines and the tradition that fortifies‖.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SCHOOL :
In his speech on founder‘s day celebration of Modern School, New Delhi, on November 25, 1962, Zakir Hussain gave the following characteristics of a good school.
1. Knowledge of individuality of each child: A proper understanding of the individuality of each pupil should the prime concern of the school and the teacher. The children come from different social and family backgrounds, possesses different capabilities and tastes, different likes and dislikes and different personalities. The school and the teacher should make sincere attempts to understand these and deal with them in such a way that the students benefit fully from the school activities.
2. Understanding the stages of development: The second concern of the school should be directing the school programmes in consonance with the stages of development of the pupils.
3. All round development: Another characteristic feature of a good school is that it devotes its efforts to the growth and development of the three H‘s of the pupil.
4. Purposeful activities: Education is a purposeful activity and the programmes of the school should be leading to educationally productive work.
5. Social and individual development: The school should aim at the individual development as well as generating a sense of social responsibility.
6. Self-education: the school should take initiative in enhancing the process of self-learning in the pupils. In fact the best way to teach is to help the learner how to learn i.e. learning to learn.
CONTRIBUTION OF DR. ZAKIR HUSSAIN TO EDUCATION :
Dr. Hussain‘s contribution to education is worth noting. Some of them are given below.
• Establishment of the Jamia Milia Islamia.
• Formulation of the Wardha Scheme or Basic Education.
In 1937, Gandhiji expressed his views on education that literacy itself is no education. He therefore, wanted children to be taught useful handicrafts to enable them to produce and earn from the moment they begin training.
A conference of National Workers was held at Wardha in the same year under the presidentship of Gandhiji. The conference appointed a committee of eminent educationists under the chairmanship of Dr. Zakir Hussain to prepare a detailed syllabus. This report of the committee on education later came to be known as the ‗Wardha Scheme of Education‘. Dr. Zakir Hussain played an important role in the preparation of this report.
Salient features of Basic Education as suggested by the Committee
1. The duration of the course has to be seven years.
2. Students are free to choose one basic craft of their choice from among the options given.
Spinning and weaving, Carpentry
Agriculture,
Gardening, (Fruits and vegetables) Leather work,
Any other craft which the local and geographical conditions permit. Example: Cane work, coir manufacturing, handicrafts, etc.
3. Other subjects of the course: (i) Social studies, (ii) General science,
(iii) Drawing, (iv) Music, (v) Hindustani.
4. The medium of instruction should be mother tongue.
5. Duration of work in the curriculum per day is 5 hours thirty minutes.
6. Total working days per year should be 228 days.
