Page:Gandhi - Young India, Viking Press, 1924-1926.pdf/743

 certainly advisable to do so even though one may have finished his quota.

M.K.G.

10th December, 1925 NATIONAL EDUCATION BY M. K. GANDHI The Gujarat Vidyapith had its annual convocation for the granting of degrees and prizes. There was the annual stock taking an unvarnished truthful tale for diminution in the number of boys and girls studying in the various institutions managed under it or affiliated to it. Gujarat has perhaps the best financed national institutions if not also the best managed . Of these institutions, at least , it can be said that it is not due to want of funds that they appear to be dwindling. There can be no doubt that national institutions are just now not popular. They cannot boasi handsome and expensive buildings or furniture. They cannot boast highly paid teachers and professors. Nor can they claim continuity of tradition or method. Nor can they promise alluring careers. " What they claim offers no temptation to many . They claim many self - less, patriotic teachers who are living in penury and want , so that the youth of the country may benefit by their tuition . These institutions teach hand - spinning and all it means . They teach the art of service . They try to impart instruction through the medium of the vernaculars . They endeavour to revive national games and teach national music . They strive to prepare the boys for service in the villages and to that end cultivate in them fellow - feeling with the poor of India . But this is not sufficiently attractive . Hence the falling of in numbers . The so - called unattractiveness is , however , not the sole reason for the unpopularity of these institutions . Many things were done in 1921 - that year of excitement , intoxication and