Wardha Scheme of Education 1937

On July 31, 1937, Gandhi had published an article in the Harijan. Based upon this article, an all India National Education Conference was held on October 22 and 23, 1937. The conference is called Wardha Educational Conference and the president of this conference was Gandhi himself.

Resolution at Wardha Conference

The resolutions passed were as follows:

1. Free and compulsory education to be provided for 7 years at a nationwide scale.
2. Mother tongue should be the medium of instruction.
3. Through out this period of 7 years, the education should be around some forms of manual and productive work and for this purpose a handicraft must be chosen , based upon the environment of the child.
4. This system would generate the remuneration of the teachers.

Basic Education Committee under Dr. Zakir Hussain

Following Wardha conference, a committee under Dr. Zakir Hussain was appointed to formulate the scheme of the basic education. The aim of the basic education was to develop the qualities of the ideal citizenship and more aspect should be give to the Indian culture than the literacy.

• There should be NO PLACE for English in the curriculum.
• There was no place for religious education in this scheme.

The most important point was the economic goals of the basic education, which would develop by the manual handicraft of the children for a period of 7 years. This was not accepted by Muslim League, for religious education was of utmost importance.